Garlic herb fettuccine with arugula and mascarpone

Posted by Dana McMahan on March 3, 2008

I’m so lucky to have a pasta shop a few minutes from my house. We usually make do with dried pasta from the regular grocery store but from time to time when we want something special we’ll choose from the array of delicious freshly made pastas at Lotsa Pasta.

After choosing a pasta and mascarpone recipe for tonight based on my hunt on Food Blog Search, we hit Lotsa Pasta today where we considered their selection of noodles, and settled on the garlic and herb flavor.

I swapped the spinach the original recipe called for with arugula — primarily because Lotsa Pasta had it and not spinach. However, I loved the contrast of the peppery bite of arugula with the creamy sauce, and I’ll make it the same way next time. Note: if you forget to reserve the pasta water, which I do at least half the time when a recipe calls for it, you can use a splash of white wine instead. This dish is very rich – plan to be hungry when you serve it. It’s also definitely not a diet dish. We walked an hour in the park today so had worked up an appetite.

¾ pound fresh fettucine
2 cups arugula, cut into fine shreds
2 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
Heaping teaspoon of nutmeg, freshly grated
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp butter
salt, pepper
8 oz mascarpone
1 cup heavy cream
½ cup of grated parmesan
¼ cup pine nuts
6 bocconcini (small fresh mozzarella balls)
(Reserve 1 cup pasta cooking water)

Toast pine nuts in a small pan over medium-low heat. Start a pan of water for the pasta.

Add the butter, oil and garlic in a large pan. Cook the garlic on low heat (until it is very fragrant but not brown), then add the nutmeg.

When the garlic is done (at about the same time your water comes to a boil and you add the noodles) add the arugula to the pan and allow to wilt for a couple of minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Add the mascarpone and the cream to the arugula, along with a little bit of pasta water. Stir well until mascarpone melts and there are no clumps. Season again, to taste.

When the pasta is done, drain it and reserve some cooking water.

Add the pasta to the sauce, mix well, and add the parmesan.

Mix again, and loosen it with pasta water (add a few spoons at a time)

Top with pine nuts and 2 mozzarella balls. (The last two are for lunch leftovers the next day.) Garnish with a little more parmesan.

Serve immediately.

(Optional – top with chopped sun-dried tomatoes)

TAGS: Arugula, Fettucine, Mascarpone
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