Aperol Pasta

I like recipes that are a little bit different. Something where people taste it and first think, What is this? Then they take another bite.

This recipe is exactly like that. I discovered it on television and immediately had to try it.

This one is fantastic. It is fruity, creamy, a little bitter from the Aperol and, in my version, spicy as well. The original recipe was not spicy, but Ralf made it spicy. Of course.

I discovered it on television. They showed a QR code and I thought, Where is my Handy? Where is my Handy? By the time I found the phone, the QR code was gone. So I opened the programme again in the media library, waited for the QR code to appear for a second time, scanned it — and finally I had the recipe.

Then I had to make it.

Ingredients.

  • 400 g spaghetti
  • Salt, for the pasta water
  • 1 shallot
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 red chilli, sliced into small half-rings, seeds included if you like the heat
  • 80 ml freshly squeezed orange juice
  • 80 ml Aperol
  • 100 ml Prosecco
  • 200 ml cream
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 50 g Parmigiano, freshly grated, plus a little more for serving
  • Black pepper
  • Fresh parsley, for serving
  • About 100–150 ml pasta cooking water, reserved

Method.

Cook the spaghetti in well-salted water until it is ready to your liking. Before draining it, keep about 100–150 ml of the pasta water. You may need this later to make the sauce beautifully creamy.

Finely chop the shallot and garlic. Squeeze the orange juice and grate the Parmigiano.

Heat the butter and olive oil together in a large pan. Add the shallot and cook gently for about three minutes. Add the garlic and chilli and continue cooking, but do not let the garlic become brown. It should become soft and translucent.

Pour in the Prosecco and Aperol. Let everything bubble gently for about four to five minutes so the sauce reduces.

Add the cream and fresh orange juice. Mix everything together and let it reduce again for another three to four minutes.

Now add the grated Parmigiano and keep stirring until the cheese has melted into the sauce and everything becomes properly creamy. If the sauce becomes too thick, add a little of the reserved pasta water until the consistency is right.

Put the spaghetti directly into the sauce and mix well.

Serve with parsley and a little extra Parmigiano on top.

For me, this is not a normal pasta dish. You have the fruitiness of the orange, the sweetness and slight bitterness of the Aperol, the Prosecco, the creamy sauce and then the chilli coming through. We love it. It is really, really good.

My pasta tip.

I normally use Bronzo pasta now. This pasta is pushed through bronze dies during production, which gives it a rougher surface than very smooth ordinary pasta.

And that rough surface takes up much more sauce.

You can actually see and feel the difference. For a beautiful creamy sauce like this one, I love it.