Recipe of the Week – Pasta with Asparagus Pesto
April 6, 2010 at 8:03 am Leave a comment
(From the Vegetarian Entree category at www.emealsforyou.com)
Pasta with Asparagus Pesto
Well, the eat-a-thon is over. We survived with just a minimum of weight gain. The extended weekend with my mother-in-law and brother-in-law was great and of course we overate. Just when you thought it was safe to come out of the kitchen, BOOM, Easter brunch, party of 13 your table is ready.
My wife has been eyeing up recipes that include asparagus and especially pesto so it was no surprise when she suggested we come up with an asparagus pesto of our own. NO problem as we have basil pesto, sun-dried tomato pesto and even spinach pesto on our website, www.emealsforyou.com. Problem, no pine nuts. I did have a cup of hazelnuts, which I toasted and then put into the food processor. We decided to go one more step and serve this pesto over a wheat pasta, we are trying to eat more multi-grain foods, and the results were really good. A note here: for those of us who tried whole wheat pasta in the past and found it very similar to cardboard, try the new stuff, you really can’t taste the difference from the usual pasta.
Pasta with Asparagus Pesto
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 6 |
| Category: | Vegetarian Entrée |
| Meal: | N/A |
| 1 | lb | pasta, cooked |
| 1 | lb | asparagus, grilled |
| 4 | cloves | garlic, chopped |
| 1 | cup | hazelnuts, toasted |
| 1 | cup | cheese, Romano |
| 1 | cup | oil, olive |
| 1 | Tb | pepper, fresh cracked |
Cut the top 2 inches off the grilled asparagus, cut in half and reserve. Chop remaining asparagus into pieces and place in a food processor. Add the garlic and nuts and process until rough chop. Add all but 2 Tb of the Romano cheese and the oil and process to a rice-like consistency. Place in a large bowl, add hot pasta and the reserved asparagus tips. Toss, add a little of the pasta water if too thick. Sprinkle with reserved Romano and fresh black pepper. Serve
Entry filed under: Dinners. Tags: asparagus, grilled asparagus, Lunch, Meal Planning, pasta, penne pasta, pesto, vegetarian meal.
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