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vegetable - asparagus, pasta, pesto, quick

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Asparagus with Pasta and Pesto

This recipe happened to result in a rather low calorie dish quite accidentally and serves as a main or side dish. It is an excellent way to satisfy the taste for pasta yet is definitely a vegetable dish and is quick to make. Moistened with a little Soya cream or other favourite 'cream' and finished with a teaspoon of fresh pesto it is a great way to enjoy healthy asparagus with a little pasta too!

serves 2 generously or 4

500 g. green asparagus (preferably purple tipped)

2 handfuls of pasta such as farfalle, fettuccine or tagliatelle (+- 50 gr.)

a few tablespoons of soya cream, cooking cream (low fat cream), or similar

a little vegetable stock*

1 t. pesto or pistou

fresh grated black pepper

a little freshly grated nutmeg

1 generous T. freshly grated Parmesan

Place a medium sized pot of water on the heat source to boil. In the meantime, rinse the asparagus and starting with the tip snap off thumb lengths (place the tender tip to one side). When you reach the tougher parts that will not snap easily, reserve them for a soup for later.

Drop the pasta in the salted water while the asparagus is cooking and cook according to instructions.

Lay the asparagus (without the tips) in a medium sized pan and half cover with a little vegetable stock (*or use water with a few pinches of vegetable powder or cube), cover and cook over medium low heat for 5 minutes or until still firm - a little more than al dente. Shake the pan now and again to turn the asparagus.

Now add the asparagus tips to the rest of the asparagus, cover and cook another few minutes. Remove the lid, raise the heat and allow the liquid to evaporate leaving a little liquid in the pan.

Add the drained pasta, lift some of the asparagus onto the pasta, drizzle over enough Soya cream or similar to moisten well. Add the pesto, a grating of pepper and a good pinch of freshly grated nutmeg. Toss gently to distribute. Cover and allow to rest a minute or so while you grate the parmesan or pour the wine.

Toss again with the Parmesan cheese and serve immediately.

Tip: Add only enough cream to moisten well and not so much as to make a sauce of it!

Variation: toss in a small handful of cleaned shrimp with the tips and continue to cook. Finely sliced champignon mushrooms added just before the pasta or small bits of ham combines well with this as does tossing in a peeled and diced fresh tomato with the pasta. I don't recommend adding more than one other ingredient with the asparagus otherwise it will loose its simple elegance and become a rustic fare looking suspiciously like 'cleaning out the refrigerator'.

Note: I served this with a rucola salad with balsamico vinegar and very little olive oil garnished with cherry tomato halves and fine, almost transparent shavings of Parmesan cheese. This recipe was the second course followed by grilled red Mediterranean prawns with lemon wedges.

All recipes are excerpts from "Welcome to My Kitchen" - The Epicurean Table and are copyright of the author. Recipes are not to be added to any form of archive or other works of any kind. Contact the author for further information.