Fettucelle with truffled asparagus sauce

I had come across a recipe for pasta with a truffle-scented asparagus sauce in Kochen, a monthly food magazine I have a subscription for. The combination intrigued me but when I looked at the list of ingredients I saw that it was a unbelievably heavy conccotion with plenty of butter and cream- unhealthy and one to leave you feeling unpleasantly stuffed. So I came up with a lighter version and I thought it was very tasty, too.

Fettucelle with truffled asparagus sauce (serves 2)

• 10 white asparagus spears
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• a small bit of butter
• a pinch of sugar
  
• 1 tablespoon mascarpone or sour cream or heavy cream
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• 4 ramsons leaves
• 1 teaspoon truffle oil (or more, depending on how strong the truffle scent is)
• 160g fettucelle, linguine or tagliatelle
  

Generously peel the asparagus and cut into 3cm-long chunks. Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and add the butter, lemon juice and sugar. Add all the asparagus except for the tips and cook until almost done, then add the tips and cook for a few more minutes until they are done. The asparagus stalks may get quite soft but they'll be puréed anyway. Remove the asparagus with a slotted spoon. Put the tips aside and purée the stalks together with some of the cooking water until very smooth. For a top-notch silky smooth sauce, pass the purée through a sieve. Too much of a kerfuffle, right? So proceed to the next step directly. Put the purée back into the pan. Add the mascarpone* or cream and season with salt and pepper. Keep warm while the pasta is cooking. Add the truffle oil and the finely cut ramsons to the sauce, mix, then add the asparagus tips. Drain the pasta and add to the sauce. Mix until it is eveny coated and serve in deep plates.

*I bought mascarpone for making rillettes de saumon but then I ended up making something else with the salmon and now I have to use up the mascarpone in other ways. Expect to find it many of my next posts.