Fettuccine with Asparagus and Tomatoes

Pasta dishes are always a little cliche for me to blog about.
I'm not afraid of carbs, but pasta feels undervalued, overrated, and normally... overcooked!
I've gotten into this brand though and I like the taste of this pasta. It's organic whole wheat with flax. It has a nutty flavor with a nice chewy-ness. I've had their penne shape and spaghetti shape before, all winners for me.

Pasta can also feel cliche because it's fairly simple to explain, but here we go!
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Ingredients:

• Fettuccine pasta
• 1 bunch of small thinner asparagus (not those giant thick ones)
• 1 pint of multi-colored cherry tomatoes
• Olive Oil
• Sprinkle of vegan parmesan cheeze
• 1 tsp of truffle oil
• 5-6 leave of fresh basil 
• fresh black pepper
• tiny tiny sprinkle of garlic powder
• pink salt

Boil your pasta in salted water, my brand took 7-8 minutes.

While you've got that going coat your tomatoes in olive oil on a baking tray and pop into the oven at 400 degrees.

Once that's cooking trim your asparagus. Simply snap off one asparagus bottom and trim the rest of the bunch to the point where that one broke off naturally. It's an easy way to remove the woody ends of the plant.

I grilled my asparagus on a george foreman grill, but any grill pan will work. Don't use oil and don't let them cook too long, they should be bright green to look at and still be snappy to the bite. Remove and set in a large bowl.

Drain the pasta, if you'd like to reserve some of the cooking water it might not be a bad idea. I didn't reserve any but somewhat wish I had. You can add the water back into the dish at the end to keep it "saucy" if you want.

Combine the pasta with the asparagus. IF you sort of overcooked your asparagus but hoped no one would notice don't mix the pasta in right away because the heat could take your asparagus over the edge.

I seasoned my dish at this point while I waited for my tomatoes. Sprinkle the cheeze, truffle oil, garlic powder, pink salt, pepper, and fresh mint. Taste a few bites and see what you think. It might be a little rich tasting until you add your acid tomatoes.



When the tomatoes are split and juicy remove from the oven and pour the whole thing into the bowl. That juicy bottom is delicious! I lifted my aluminum foil and poured every last bit.

See how easy pasta dishes are to make? I bet it beats canned soup for lunch though!
Happy Eating!