Happy Almost Friday

Hooray for Thursday! Sorry for being MIA yesterday—it ended up being one of those days where I was inexplicably tired and needed to go to bed at 9:30pm. You know those days where you think you are just going to rest your eyes for a few minutes and the next thing you know it’s 11pm and you have to force yourself to get up and actually take out your contacts (which have by this time become glued to your eyes) and brush your teeth. That’s what it was like. So between that and the fact that Jason and I decided to treat ourselves to a mid-week dinner out (where we engaged in one of our favorite past times—eavesdropping on other people’s dinner conversations), last night’s blog post fell by the wayside.

But today I am back and ready to share with you a new recipe I tried out for dinner tonight. Jason and I both love asparagus and since we are quickly approaching the end of asparagus season (sniff sniff) I’ve been trying to come up with various ways to eat it every week. Tonight I decided to try out Smitten Kitchen’s Asparagus, Goat Cheese, and Lemon Pasta. Not only does it include asparagus (which we love), but it also includes a healthy dose of goat cheese (which we also love…as you can probably guess from the fact that we actually made our own a few months back).  The one thing that had me worried about this recipe is that it is one of those pasta recipes that don’t really have a sauce—instead it suggests adding some of the pasta cooking water to the dish to help the other ingredients (in this case the goat cheese, lemon zest, tarragon and olive oil) coat the pasta. I’ve never had particularly good luck with this approach but it was an otherwise appealing recipe so I decided to give it a shot.

The result? Who needs a "sauce" when you have melty goat cheese. Y-U-M. The goat cheese coated the pasta like a dream. And I really liked the hint of lemon with both the cheese and the asparagus. Only thing I might do next time is add some additional tarragon or some fresh parsley for a little more green, herbiness (yes, I know that's not a real word). Overall, a great SUPER EASY dish.

Asparagus, Goat Cheese, and Lemon Pasta
Adapted slightly from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:
8 ounces penne pasta (we used whole grain because it’s what we had)
1 pound of asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 ½ inch pieces
2 TBL olive oil
1 TBL grated lemon peel
2 teaspoons chopped fresh tarragon
1 4-ounce log fresh goat cheese
Fresh lemon juice (from 1/2 lemon)
Salt and pepper

1.Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until it is almost done (with 2-3 minutes cooking time left). Add asparagus and cook until pasta is al dente and asparagus is crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Reserve one cup of pasta water and drain the pasta and asparagus together.
2.Meanwhile combine olive oil, lemon peel, tarragon in a large bowl. Break goat cheese into the mixture and add host pasta and asparagus. Toss until combined, adding enough pasta water to make it smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add a squirt of fresh lemon juice and serve.