Food Revolution Friday - Farmer's Market Edition

I was trying to come up with something for supper that didn't involve defrosting any meat from the freezer.  I have an awesome microwave that actually defrosts without cooking the meat at the same time so that wasn't the problem.  Really I was just too lazy to choose a meat and decide what to do with it.


I decided to flip through Rachael Ray's Big Orange Book and see if anything caught my attention.  About four pages from the most used recipe in the cookbook I saw Jaw-Droppingly Delicious Asparagus Penne.  Since one of the many things we picked up at the Farmer's Market this morning was a pound of skinny asparagus this seemed like a perfect fit.  The only ingredient I was missing was the whole wheat pasta.  Oh well, work with what you've got, right?  I actually had half-and-half, otherwise known as 10% creamy goodness, in the fridge.  This almost never happens.  I took it as a sign.  Not really.  I would have used P's whole milk if I hadn't had the half-and-half.  You can pretend I didn't mention that last part.  It kind of ruins the story.

RR recommends blanching the asparagus whole and then chopping into pieces.  I chose to ignore her and cut mine up first.  It would seem that she may know of what she speaks; I spent longer than I should have fishing out 1 inch pieces of asparagus from the boiling water.  Please follow her instructions.  I know that I could have just drained the water but then I would have had to bring a new pot of water to boil to cook the pasta and that seemed like more work than necessary.  I'm not saying it would have been more work but it seemed like a waste of time.


I made the sauce in the microwave so that I dirtied a measuring cup and not another pot.  I think the measuring cup is more easily cleaned in the dishwasher than the pot.  Not that I don't put pots in the dishwasher.  I do.  But they don't always clean as nicely as when they are washed by hand.  Aren't you glad I shared that bit of information?  Me too.


I cooked approximately 0.75 pounds of pasta rather than the fully pound she suggests.  Mostly I didn't want to deal with too many leftovers.  P won't eat the same food more than two meals in a row.  There are times when she needs at least one if not two different meals in between before she'll eat leftovers.  Sigh.  I'm sure she's glad I shared that with you.

Neither P or K agreed were thrilled with their dinner. It took quite a while before either of them would eat it.  P first ate half an apple and then ate all of her pasta and then a little bit more.  K eventually ate his whole serving but it was a long and drawn out affair.  I suspect the strong taste, and tang, of the lemon is to blame.  I quite enjoyed it but I may cut back on the lemon juice next time for the kidlets.