I'm getting anxious for spring. While we did not have to deal with the Polar Vortex like so much of the rest of the country, we did have a very very cold December. And it was dry. Much like California, Southern Oregon is suffering from a lack of rain & snow this winter. Luckily we have had some good amounts dumped on us in the last couple of weeks but we are still down something like 50% of the average so this summer could be an even worse fire season than last year. Ugh.
But with that all said, I'm starting to look for harbingers of spring out there. And that would include. . .the grocery store! Spring at the grocery store means fresh local asparagus to me!
The local stuff isn't here yet, it's still a bit early, but I am seeing the price go down on what they are getting at my local store. So last week I was craving a "spring-y" dinner and I set out for the store to get asparagus, lemons, goat cheese, Parmesan cheese, and some good thin-sliced ham. You see, I had the perfect spring pasta dish in mind:
Ingredients:
1 16oz box of penne pasta (ziti or other short pastas are fine too)
1 lb of fresh asparagus
8oz of goat cheese crumbled
1 cup of grated Parmesan
1 lemon
1 lb of thin sliced deli ham
Now, I have a confession to make. When I was a kid I
hated asparagus. My mother loved the stuff but luckily (or so I thought at the time) didn't make it very often. When she did she just boiled it and the smell put me off before I'd even taken a bite. So I did not eat asparagus for many years until I moved to Oregon. Then my grandmother pulled a jar out of the cupboard one day and introduced me to pickled asparagus spears. They still had a bit of that "asparagus" taste but the pickling had mellowed it and added flavors I liked. My mind was opened a bit to the possibility that maybe I liked asparagus after all and it was just the cooking method my mother employed that ruined it. I found my experience with Brussels sprouts to be similar.
I still hadn't cooked asparagus myself though. That came one fall when I was very broke and my roommate at the time brought home a box of food from the local food co-op/pantry that he qualified for. There were bunches and bunches of asparagus! Well, I set out to figure out how best to cook it, and find recipes to use it up in. The first thing I decided was NOT to boil it. I decided to try roasting it and well, I've never looked back. Roasted asparagus is amazingly good. If you have not done it, DO. IT. NOW. Yummmmmmm!
Ok, so back to our recipe:
Preheat the oven to 400°.
Fill a large pot with plenty of water for the pasta. Get that started on the stove on high. While waiting for that to come to a boil, rinse and dry the asparagus. Trim off the woody ends of the stems then chop the spears into pieces about 1 inch long, or close the size of your pasta.
Line a large rimmed baking sheet with foil. Spread the asparagus on the cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat. Sprinkle liberally with kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper.
Now, take your lemon and zest it, sprinkling the zest over the asparagus.
Toss the asparagus as needed to evenly distribute the seasonings.
Once the oven has preheated, place the asparagus on a rack in the upper middle of the oven. Let it roast for about 10-15 minutes then shake the pan gently to turn the pieces and roast until crisp-tender. About another 10 minutes depending on the thickness of the spears.
When the pasta water comes to a boil, liberally salt the water then add your pasta. Give it a stir then leave it to cook until al dente.
Chop up the ham into bite size pieces and gently toss to separate the thin pieces.
Juice the lemon and set the juice aside.
When the pasta is done drain it but reserve about a cup of the cooking water. Dump the pasta into a large serving bowl. Dump in the roasted asparagus, the chopped ham, and the goat cheese. Gently toss to combine, adding the reserved cooking water. Add the lemon juice and the grated Parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil and taste for seasoning.
Serve with a good crusty loaf of bread and a crisp white wine.
Thanks for stopping by! What's for dinner at your table tonight?