Greetings!
One of the cultural phenomenon that I encountered when I moved to Germany was that of the Spargel – Asparagus in German.
White or green, with a very short season (mid May till mid June) the Spargel is being celebrated intensively in Germany; you can buy it everywhere and eat it everywhere. The highlight of this Asparagus Festival is the white asparagus, freshly picked, peeled, cooked and served with sauce Hollandaise and cooked potatoes – I love it!
However, this post is not about the white asparagus, not yet. This one is dedicated to the other star of the season (but not as big as his white brother): the green asparagus which is easier to prepare because you don’t need to peel it like the white one… So when I have seen the green one last week at the supermarket I knew exactly what I am going to do with it: Spring Pasta!
The never-ending possibilities that pasta has to offer might be confusing but I am happy to report that I invented my own pasta and it was absolutely refreshing and tasty.
Ingredients (for 3 people / for a couple + lunch leftover for the wife for the next day):
- A bundle of green asparagus
- 4-6 champignon mushroom
- 5-7 dry tomatoes (not in oil, just dry ones)
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 box of Alpro Soy Cream for cooking [or any other soy cream for cooking]
- Freshly ground pepper
- Pasta of your choice – I used Girandole – the funkiest the pasta, the better
Fry dry tomatoes and garlic
Directions:
- Wash and cut asparagus and mushrooms (I cut off the bottom part of the asparagus)
- Cut the garlic and dry tomatoes
- Fry garlic and tomatoes in olive oil for 1-3 minutes – low/medium heat
- Add the asparagus and the mushrooms – fry for 1-2 more minutes
- Pour the soy cream and ground pepper
- Cook on low heat for at least 10 minutes – stir from time to time
- Cook pasta according to instructions (I am so kidding, I never cook pasta according to instructions, I bring water to boil, add the pasta and cook till it looks “ready” then I taste one and if it’s ready then it’s ready!)
Before adding soy cream
With soy cream and pepper
Important:
- Yes, there’s no salt, most dry tomatoes are super salty
- Adding a dash of nutmeg is an option if you like the flavor
- Try to not overcooked the asparagus, it needs to be ‘knacky’ and not mushy
- You can pour the sauce over the pasta or mix the pasta into the sauce – I am still not sure which method I like better…
Enjoy!
And just a teaser for a possible white asparagus post (with sauce Hollandaise and potatoes)
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