it is much too late and I should be sleeping, but if I don’t write this up, I’ll forget by the time I’m back from the trip I leave on in the morning.

I should probably attribute this recipe to Deborah Madison, since I think that is where it originated, but here is how I came to it - or at least the recipe that inspired the one I’m about to tell you about:

I was reading Rebecca Blood’s blog - her series on Eating Organic on a Food Stamp Budget is terrific for lots of reasons.

Anyway, I saw her recipe for Spaghetti with Zucchini and Basil and thought that it looked super easy and really good so when I saw asparagus at the farmer’s market on Saturday, I pretty much knew what that I’d be remixing her recipe to use it.

And this is what resulted:

HPIM2141

And it was astounding, really.

Here’s what you need:

  • Asparagus - I don’t know how much I had - it was a big bunch - if you click through on the picture link, you can see another photo of what my pan looked like with all the asparagus in it.
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • olive oil
  • about a tablespoon of butter
  • 1/4 + cup of milk
  • basil - as much as you want, though go for at least 3 tablespoons of fresh
  • salt and pepper
  • linguine
  • nice parmesan, grated

What to do:

  1. salt water for pasta, start boiling
  2. snap off woody ends of asparagus and save for stock
  3. wash, drain, and chop asparagus into 1 or 2 inch long pieces, whatever you like
  4. chop garlic
  5. in your large saute pan, melt your butter (or leave it out if you wish) along with a few tablespoons of olive oil
  6. when hot, add in your garlic and fry till you’re getting the idea that a few flecks of gold may appear in a bit - about 2 minutes
  7. add in your asparagus, and cook till its about 2/3 of the way done to your liking.  Mine didn’t brown, and I suspect that yours won’t either unless you use your cast iron pan - I didn’t this time, but next time for sure
  8. you could also add in some salt while you’re cooking the asparagus.  I did.
  9. add in your milk.  I think I misread the recipe when cooking and added 1/2 cup of milk.  It was fine.
  10. also add in your basil along with the milk, and maybe some more salt if you think it needs it - pepper would also be good now.
  11. cook till milk reduces by half or until you’ve decided its reduced enough
  12. if your pasta isn’t done, wait.  If it is done, toss the sauce with the pasta along with one or more handfuls of parmesan.  I think a quarter cup of the parmesan will do you fine, but experiment and find out what you like.
  13. devour and wonder how you made something so good, so quickly.

Don’t forget the salad!