Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Recipe: Easy Asparagus Pasta

I haven't been cooking as often as I'd like - as noted by my lack of blog posts recently - and due to marathon training and recovery along with general laziness, when I do muster up the energy to cook, I've generally been making fairly simple recipes.  My new favorite cookbook - The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet - features tons of quick and easy recipes.  Like easy asparagus pasta!

Ingredients: 
(makes 4 servings - I never make 4 servings of anything, so reduce the ingredients as you see fit)
10 to 12 ounces short pasta
12 to 16 ounces slender asparagus
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 to 4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup of your favorite cheese - Parmesan, goat cheese, feta, etc.

Method:
1. Cook the pasta and set it aside.
2. Trim the asparagus and cut in into small pieces (I generally cut each one into 3 sections)
3. Heat the oil and garlic in a skillet. Saute' until golden.
4. Add the asparagus to the skillet and a little bit of water - to steam the asparagus.  Cover the skillet and steam until the asparagus is cooked but not wilty.
5. Add pasta to skillet along with cheese and stir until melted/heated.  Serve immediately.

Nutrition: 244 calories/serving 12g fat
 
The finished product:
 

 

Like some of the other recipes in this book, I feel like one or two more ingredients may have helped.  A little salt, perhaps?  I also used less cheese than the recipe called for, so that might have had something to do with it.  But...my cooking guinea pig loved it and asked me to make it again, so I think I'll play around with this recipe and add more asparagus and cheese and cut down on the noodles.

2 comments:

  1. A little lemon juice, grated lemon rind and goat cheese are all you need to make this pop. The lemon adds so much flavor, is a great compliment to asparagus and a healthy replacement for salt. And, goat cheese makes everything better.

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  2. Goat cheese really does make everything better. I'll have to try that next time.

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