I should try to play this off as an intentionally designed menu, to celebrate spring with new fresh produce etc… But actually I realized I had nothing planned for dinner, a bunch of asparagus and a few mushrooms in the fridge that were about to go bad, and half a slab of bacon. I remembered seeing a pasta with asparagus dish in Bon Appetit recently, but when I looked on Epicurious I found something that could be adapted even more to suit the vegetables I had. So celebrate either with me: spring is here, and/or I whipped up dinner in 20 minutes without having to run out to the store.
Adapted from Epicurious.
Grocery list: 1 pound bunch asparagus, 4-6 slices bacon, 3-4 ounces fresh cremini mushrooms, 1/2 bag frozen peas (thawed), 1/2 cup grated parmesan, 1 pound dried penne pasta, 2-3 cloves garlic, olive oil, 1/2 cup cream.
Mince the garlic, chop the bacon, and slice the mushrooms. Rinse the asparagus, and break off the bottom third of the stems (with your hands, if you bend the asparagus stalks towards the end, they naturally break off where the toughest part of the stem begins).
Blanch the asparagus by dropping it into boiling salted water for just 2-3 minutes. Remove the asparagus with tongs or a slotted spoon to a colander to drain. Keep the water boiling and cook the penne according to package directions.
Heat a large saucepan over medium high heat and add the bacon pieces. Cook for 2-3 minutes, until the bacon has released some of its grease (but hasn’t gotten crispy yet).
Add the mushroom slices and continue to cook until the mushrooms start to brown, another 3 minutes or so.
Add the garlic to the pan and cook for another minute.
Chop the asparagus stems into bite size pieces.
Add the peas and asparagus to the bacon and mushrooms in the pan.
Add the cream, and cook until reduced by about half. Season with salt and pepper.
Drain the pasta and add it to the saucepan, along with the grated parmesan cheese.
Stir until the cheese melts. Remove from heat and serve immediately, with more grated parmesan if you like.
April 1st, 2009 at 6:10 am
This is my kind of pasta dish! Looks delicious!
April 1st, 2009 at 8:57 am
Thanks Emily! It was so easy, and a good way to sneak in a couple servings of vegetables into “comfort food”. Reheats well too.
May 29th, 2010 at 8:31 pm
My boyfriend and I were looking for something to make for dinner, using some of the ingredients we had. I googled “bacon asparagus pasta” and came across this recipe. What a find! We just finished polishing off obscenely large bowls of it. There’s plenty of salty, savory flavors from the bacon and parmesan cheese, balanced with the sweetness of the peas and the freshness of the asparagus– delicious! Thanks for the recipe!!