Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Roasted Asparagus Pasta

There is so much lovely asparagus in the grocery store right now.  I just love it, so green and crisp. There are so many good things to do with asparagus. This recipe uses roasted asparagus. It is a tasty spring dish that is simple to make. Even my in house taste tester liked it.

What you need,
2 cups farfalle pasta (or any short pasta you like)
½ cup ricotta cheese
¼ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 lemon, juiced
¼ pine nuts, toasted
1 lb asparagus
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt/pepper to taste

First heat your oven to 350 degrees. Trim the ends off your asparagus. Lay them out in a single layer on a sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 10 – 15 minutes until golden brown and tender. Flip over mid way through cooking time. Remove from oven and cut into bite sized pieces, set aside.

Next toast your pine nuts. In a small non stick skillet, over medium heat, cook until nicely browned on all sides. Be careful they will burn fast. Transfer to a small bowl and set aside.

Cook the pasta according to directions on package. When you drain the pasta, save about 1/2 cup of the pasta water.

To the hot pasta stir in the ricotta cheese, add a little of the pasta water to thin out the sauce. I probably used 1/4 a cup. Add in the pine nuts, asparagus and lemon juice, season with salt and pepper to taste. Top with grated Parmesan.


This dish is a little creamy, it has a nice crunch from the pine nuts and a freshness from the lemon and asparagus topped with the nuttiness of the the parm! YUM! It is fresh and springy, a perfect weeknight meal.
Give it a try!


Jen

5 comments:

  1. I love the look of this dish! Plus it's easy and I adore asparagus! And because it's in season, it's easy to find, and so fresh and yummy! Can't wait to make it! Thanks for another great idea!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This looks great - I love all the asparagus right now! PS. Wanted to let you know I received a blog award and am now passing it on to you, stop by my blog for the details:)

    ReplyDelete
  3. As a self proclaimed "mess in the kitchen", i've stayed away from it as long as I could, but finally got sick of my boyfriend asking me, "what are you gonna do when you have kids??", and decided it was time to start browsing the blogs! I found this recipe last night and decided to give it a go. LOVED IT. I was amazed at how easy it was! Thank you, can't wait to try more of your recipes!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am so glad you liked it! I used to hate cooking too! Now it is my favorite thing to do! Hope you find a few more recipes on here to try!!

    ReplyDelete