Sunday Night Dinner.

My most recent creation came to me after I remembered that I had vegetable stock, lemons and bowtie pasta on hand that needed to be used. I also love asparagus and when it's in season, it's cheap and delicious! Add in some other quick ingredients (some a from the fridge, others fresh from the store) and wa-lah!, you have Bowtie Pasta with Asparagus in a Lemon Cream Sauce. It's light, yet decadent and really highlights one of summer's best produce items.

Ingredients:

I bunch asparagus, chopped in to 1-inch long pieces

1/2 white onion, diced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1/4 cup half and half or heavy cream

1 lemon

1/2 cup grated parmesean cheese

EVOO, butter

S&P to taste

1 cup veggie stock (it's ok to use chicken if you eat meat)

1 package (160z) bowtie pasta

1/4 cup parsley, chopped

Directions:
Combine 1-2 TBSP of EVOO and 1 TBSP of butter in a saute pan. Once butter is melted and pan is hot, add in onion and garlic and saute until onion is translucent. Add in asparagus and continue to saute, while adding S&P.

Meanwhile, boil water for pasta and cook according to directions.

After asparagus has cooked for 3-4 minutes, add in the stock and bring to a simmer. At this point, add in the cream and stir to combine. Then zest in one lemon and squeeze in juice. Sauce will be a little thin at this point.

Drain pasta after cooking and return to pasta pot.

Lastly, add parmesean cheese into sauce and stir until slightly thickened. Pour sauce over pasta and top with the chopped parsley. Serves 4 - YUM!

*I've had some requests to make my post font larger - hopefully this works! ;oP