I thought that NuGet buffers recent packages in background.
Have you tried as user?
However, if is slow for you, remove three lines in RecentPackagesViewModel.cs
<pre><code>
		protected override IQueryable<IPackage> GetAllPackages()
		{
			IQueryable<IPackage> allPackages;
			allPackages = recentPackagesRepository.GetPackages();
//			if (project != null) {
//				allPackages = allPackages.Where(IsProjectPackage).AsQueryable();
//			}
			return allPackages;
		}
</code></pre>