My personal favorite way to prepare asparagus is simply
drizzling with olive oil, sprinkling with salt and pepper, and either throwing it
directly on the grill for a few minutes or into a hot 500 degree oven for a few
minutes on a baking sheet. A quick
roasting will ensure a tiny bit of char, but still a nice crisp tender spear
full of flavor and void of mush. It is easy and only takes a few minutes from
prep to plate. As a side note: If you are going to grill the asparagus,
place the spears across the grate so
they do not fall through. (Sorry, Mama Kat, the SOB made me do it)
Anyhow, my asparagus featured recipe for the week is
Chicken Asparagus Pesto Pasta. It is
something I love, and it is pretty simple to make, but looks like it was
difficult, so will impress your dinner freaks (wink wink). Try it and let us know how you like it! We always love to hear feedback, success and
failure.
Ingredients
2 cups diced cooked chicken
1 bunch asparagus
(approximately ¾ - 1 pound) *read asparagus
instructions below
1 10 ounce container mushrooms,
sliced
1 pint cherry or grape
tomatoes, blistered, * read
blistering instructions below
Pesto: Prepared or fresh. Mama Lanette is not YOUR mama, only Alyssa
JoJo’s. Do what you want. A handy tip for farmer’s market shoppers or
gardeners, though, is that pesto freezes AMAZINGLY well. Prepare as normal minus the cheese, spoon
into ice cube trays, cover with plastic wrap or foil, and pop into the
freezer. When the time comes to prepare,
thaw, add parmesan before serving, and laugh at those fools who pay more than
10 cents a tablespoon for pesto in the wintertime simply because they can’t
think ahead (mwah hah hah!)
Parmesan cheese,
shredded
Olive Oil, approximately 4 tablespoons for sautéing
and blistering
Salt and pepper
½ box pasta,
any shape, cooked according to package instructions.
Add chicken and pesto. Stir to combine all ingredients. Add salt and pepper to desired taste. Add
blistered tomatoes. Gently combine so tomatoes do not break
apart. Serve over hot pasta and top off
with shredded parmesan cheese.
Yummy!!!!! Hint: If the finished product seems a bit dry, drizzle with some extra olive oil and stir to combine.
*Asparagus prep
instructions: Rinse asparagus
well. If you are fortunate enough to
live in an area that has farmer’s market already going with fresh asparagus,
this is IMPERATIVE!!!!! Rinse and
soak….rinse and soak… A lot of sand can
build up in those tasty stalks, and a few extra minutes of prepping can divert
an asparapocalypse…get it, hahahaha…
Trim ends from asparagus.
Asparagus ends naturally snap at the point where they are fresh (See
Alyssa JoJo’s previous blog; she has a beautiful photo demonstrating this technique.) Proceed to cutting asparagus spears into 1 to
1-1/2 inch pieces.
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