"Asparagus inspires gentle thoughts" - Charles Lamb

I remember when I was young, I thought asparagus was horrible. It was one of the green vegetables - which everyone knows is evil - and it has these sort of spiky, angular scales to them. Gross. Little did I know then, in my single-digits, the pure joys that asparagus would bring in my adulthood. It's one of those surprise vegetables, in the fact that they are surprisingly delicious. Plus - they make your pee green! Bonus!!

I actually found this recipe for Asparagus Pasta on my last excursion to Indianapolis over Fall Break with one of my best friends. We set aside some time to hang out with her mom one night, and after a chaotic trip to the local grocery store, we settled in for an evening of cooking and movies. I believe my friend's mom had found this recipe in a pasta cookbook, and after one look at all the yummy ingredients, we all knew that it would be a winner even before it hit our plates.

So here I will attempt to reenact that epic meal with the savory pasta sauce, succulent asparagus (I wonder if anyone has ever described asparagus as succulent before...) and, of course, lots and lots of garlic!

Asparagus Pasta

Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 1/8 lb asparagus
pinch of salt, pinch of sugar
9 oz pasta (any type - I've always used penne pasta, but you could use spaghetti or whatever you had on hand)
7/8 oz heavy whipping cream (about 1 and 1/2 half pint cartons)
vegetable bullion (6oz or 1 cup)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (I used pre-shredded this time, but last time we used fresh and it was much better)
1-2 tablespoons parsley (either dried or fresh
3-4 garlic cloves (the little sections inside a garlic bulb)

1. Take a saucepan, fill little more than halfway, and set on the stove to start boiling (this will save you time later). Put the pinch of salt and the pinch of sugar into the water in the saucepan.
2. Either finely chop or grate the fresh garlic.


3. Saute the garlic on low with some olive oil in a frying pan until light brown.

4. Wash the asparagus.

5. Snap the bottom ends off the asparagus (not the ends with the floral-like tips). Throw away the snapped-off ends.
6. Cut the tips off the asparagus and set aside.

7. Cut the asparagus "bodies" into 1 inch pieces.

8. Cook the asparagus "bodies" in the boiling water, 10-15 minutes.

9. Add the tips to the boiling water and cook for 5 more minutes.
10. Put the cooked asparagus in the frying pan with the garlic, but keep the water used for boiling in the saucepan.
11. Boil the pasta in the leftover water.
12. While the pasta is boiling, make the vegetable broth (to be honest, I didn't even put vegetable broth in this time, and it turned out just fine without).
13. Pour the whipping cream in the frying pan with the asparagus and garlic.
14. Add vegetable broth to the frying pan.
15. Bring to a boil for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

16. Add the drained pasta to the frying pan.
17. Top with the parmesan cheese and parsley.

This is amazingly good with french bread and garlic-olive oil. Match with a nice Caesar salad, and you've got yourself the ultimate meal. Bon appetite!