Thursday, April 30: Pasta with Asparagus Pesto

I love making pesto out of all sorts of veggies (kale, broccoli, arugula, artichokes, parsley, you name it!), and today I tried a new one: asparagus! I adapted a recipe from national treasure Mark Bittman and absolutely loved it. I used roasted asparagus (instead of boiled), walnuts (instead of pine nuts), garlic, parm, olive oil, and lemon, and reserved the tips of the asparagus spears for serving. I also added grape tomatoes for pops of sweetness (Matt always says they taste like candy!). You can see the original recipe here, or my adapted version below.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Trim the woody ends off one bunch of asparagus. Toss with a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkle of salt, then spread out on a parchment-lined sheet pan in one even layer. Roast in the oven for 10-15 minutes (depending on how thick the spears are) or until tender. Slice the tips off of the spears and reserve to toss with the pesto and pasta, if desired (you can also just use the entire spear for the pesto).

Place the roasted asparagus (minus the reserved tips, if you’re saving to serve) in a food processor. Add in 1 garlic clove, ~1/3 cup walnuts (I used raw), juice of a lemon (start with 1/2 lemon and add more as desired), 1/2 cup grated parm (or more, to taste), and a big pinch of salt. Pulse until evenly chopped up and starting to puree. Scrape down the sides, add in about 1/4-1/3 cup olive oil (or more, to taste), and run the food processor again, until a creamy light green pesto forms, scraping down the sides as necessary to make sure it all gets blended up. Taste and adjust for salt, lemon, and parm.

Boil one pound of pasta (I used rigatoni) in a pot of well-salted water according to package instructions. Reserve a cup or two of cooking liquid and drain. Toss pasta with the pesto, adding pasta water as needed to thin and help create a sauce that coats each noodle. Stir in one pint of halved grape tomatoes. Spoon into bowls and top with the reserved roasted asparagus tips, plus extra lemon wedges.