Katie, allow me to introduce you to my all-time favorite spring pasta: creamy lemon ricotta pasta with asparagus. It checks all the boxes you mention, plus a lot more. What you’re also going to seriously appreciate is that this is a low-effort weeknight dinner with minimal prep, a quick cook time, and almost no leftover ingredients. 

For this one-pot pasta, a full tub of ricotta cheese melts into a smooth and luxuriously creamy sauce. It gets a bright, punchy kick from lemon zest and juice, and the starchy pasta water stirred in ensures the sauce clings to every inch of pasta. Plus, a full pound of springtime veggies is seamlessly incorporated into the dish, which makes it a dinner winner.

Sincerely,

Dinner Therapist

Prepping dinner night after night can be so hard. Dinner Therapist is my column dedicated to solving your dilemmas around the most important — but, let’s be honest, sometimes most dreaded — meal of the day with practical, hopefully fun advice. Follow along for all the recipes.

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