Yet another theft, this time from Zuni cafe'

Ciao ragazzi. We're going to make some pasta today. Some wonderful pasta. Some pasta that will inspire your friends to the point where they will make it themselves. Some pasta that will make them love you even more than they do now. And a pasta dish which, ultimately, is so easy, and so subject to variation, that you will not believe it. This pasta dish will make you want to make it every week.
Don't believe me? Have I ever lied to you?
This pasta dish is inspired by two very similar dishes that I've had at Zuni Cafe'. They are, as are most wonderful plates of food, epitomes of simplicity. All you need are wonderful ingredients. One is a bit extravagant, but you don't need much of it, and you could leave it out. Try not to though.
This pasta dish involves a fresh vegetable. I make it with asparagus, but as the asparagus are getting ready to wave "goodbye" to us, I will be switching to peas for a while. Maybe even sugar snap peas. You will also need lemon peel. Not a lot of it, maybe a tablespoon or so. The extravagant ingredient you will need is truffle butter. WHITE truffle butter. Finally, you will need some mild white cheese. Something soft tasting, but firm. Not mozzarella, but something along those lines.
Now, of the truffle butter, my friend David says that he had seen someone on tv cook a similar recipe and said that if you didn't have truffle butter, you could get a similar effect with mushrooms, cooked in plain, unsalted butter. Ok, so try it if you like. It sounds good to me.

Now, ready for how easy this is? You take a pound of fresh pasta, and then two-three cups of your vegetable. In the case of asparagus, you should snip them into small pieces, and make sure you use the tips. For peas, pod them of course. For sugar snap peas, cut them in half or so, on a diagnonal. Essentially, use those ideas for other vegetables. And use a stubby pasta: penne, or something like that. Have your grated lemon peel ready. Also, cube up about a cup of the cheese.

Put your truffle butter into a bowl. If you are using the mushroom and plain butter combination, slice the mushrooms, and saute' them in melted butter until they begin to give off their liquid. Then move the butter, mushrooms, and liquid to that bowl.

Notice how I didn't specify the amount of butter? Not a mistake. You have to decide how much, based on what else you're serving.

Get a big pot of salted water going and toss in the pasta. It won't take long to cook. After about 4 minutes - which is when the pasta is nearly done - toss in your vegetables, and don't cook for more than three minutes. In the case of snap peas, in fact, I would suggest that you cook the pasta for six minutes, and then add the peas for the last minute.

Drain the pasta and vegetables, and pour it into the bowl with the butter. If you are using the truffle butter, you will be assailed with one of the most alluring scents that you will ever get in the kitchen. Guaranteed to make your guests begin to gather at the kitchen wondering "what is that?" They will await it eagerly. Toss all of this together, and then toss in the lemon peel. Plate , or rather "bowl" all of the servings, and then put a few tablespoons of the cheese on top of this.

When you play with this recipe, the one essential item is the lemon peel. There is something about it that ties all of the flavors together. It mutes in the mix, but you will miss it if it's not there.

The recipe also doubles, or even triples, beautifully. I like to serve three ounces of the pasta per serving when it's the first course of a meal. Guy thinks that's overly generous, but we never get leftover pasta back when we clear the plates.

So, how long do you think it took you to put that together? Less than half an hour, right? That's the kind of meals we like: fast , sophisticated, and taste good. Sort of like your author here.

Enjoy, ragazzi.