4 or 5 mint leaves chopped + 1 sprig + more for garnish
½ lemon, zest and juice
30g parmesan cheese, finely grated + more for serving
¼ cup water from the pasta
Method
Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan until golden brown then set aside.
Bring a large pot of salted boiling water, drop in the pasta and cook until al dente.
While the pasta is cooking, prepare your ingredients. Snap off and discard the toughest part of the asparagus at the bottom. Cut the tips of the asparagus and set aside for later. Dice the stems into 2cm thick pieces and drop these into the pasta water too.
In a large frying pan on a medium-high heat, add the butter, along with a good drizzle of olive oil. Use the mint sprig like a brush and stir the butter and oil mixture together then drop the mint into the pan. Fry the garlic until soft and cook the butter until brown and deglaze with a good ladle of the pasta water to stop it from burning.
Add the asparagus tips to the pan and cook for 2 minute, they should still be crunchy.
When the pasta is ready, discard the mint from the pan and transfer the linguine directly from the pasta water to the sauce. Give it a good stir.
Using a slotted spoon, collect all the chopped asparagus stems from the pasta water and add this to the sauce as well.
Turn the heat off and add a good amount of freshly ground black pepper, the lemon zest, lemon juice, chopped mint, pine nuts and a generous amount of grated cheese. Give it a good stir all together to combine, until you create a really nice creamy sauce. If it's too thick or too dry, use some more of the pasta water to loosen the sauce.
Serve with fresh shavings of parmesan, cracked black pepper, and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and more zest, as well as a couple of mint leaves to garnish.