Step by step

Finish with a last layer of pasta, then add some béchamel and parmesan to make a ‘gratin’ top

Tips
If you go to pick wild hop shoots yourself, bear in mind that contrary to the case with other shoots or grasses, the longer ones are the sweeter and tastier.
Trivia
Hop shoots, like most wild greens, have different names depending on the geographical region in which they are found: so you find ‘luvertìn’ in Piedmont or ‘lavertìn’ in Monferrato, while in Veneto, Emilia Romagna and in the area of Trieste they are called ‘bruscandoli’ or ‘vidisoni’, or ‘vartìs’; In Fruili they are known as ‘urtizon’, ‘bertüçi’ in the Val di Vara, ‘viticedda’ in Cilento, and ‘asparagine’ in Lombardy. More generally, and almost everywhere, we also find them referred to as ‘wild asparagus’.