It’s Asparagus Time

Yay summer!

Summer may not be my favorite season (I prefer the crisp air of autumn, personally), I do appreciate what summer brings food-wise. And one of the best things that’s in season right now is asparagus! Although I was never much a fan of asparagus growing up or even later in my adolescence, I’ve now come to really love it. Usually I’m content just keeping it simple and having it steamed or blanched, but the other day Caitlin and I went a little fancier and made this delicious Asparagus Pesto Pasta!

The recipe comes courtesy of Closet Cooking, where it is in fact a recipe for Asparagus and Ramp Pesto Pasta. Caitlin and I had every intention of making ours with ramps as well but, to our dismay, they were not in stock at Whole Foods the day I went, despite their also being in season right now! Bummer. (Even more so seeing as I have never tried ramps before and was really looking forward to.) Fortunately, this recipe is plenty good without them. And it’s simple—just blend some asparagus with a little spinach, pine nuts, and pesto’s other usual suspects, and then toss that with some pasta, adding more asparagus spears and pine nuts to your liking. I thought our use of farfalle “bowtie” pasta went particularly with this recipe, and we both eagerly devoured every last bite. Here’s one more close-up:

So go out and enjoy some asparagus, everybody–it’s the perfect time!

Until we eat again,

Willie

*Side note: When I looked up ‘farfalle’ in my computer’s dictionary to make sure I was getting the spelling right, I noticed that it lists it as an ‘exclamation noun’. I think this means that I’m permitted to go around shouting “Farfalle!” at people from now on.