Farfalle with Asparagus and Sun-dried Tomato Cream Sauce
So I decided instead of exclusively photographing food and maybe (at the most) write a few sentences, I would try to finally figure out measurements and ratios of one of my mom’s recipes. Something I grew up loving, despite being a picky eater. Pasta and cream had me from the start, but the sun-dried tomato pesto, an indescribable amount of garlic, and asparagus has me still loving it to this day. This recipe is one of those things that I’ve seen her make and I’ve made based off of watching her, but impossible to share with anyone else since there’s no legitimate recipe. It’s one of those incredibly easy pastas to make at home, but it seems complicated or fancy if you don’t know what you’re doing and you haven’t had the pleasure of cutting heaps of garlic as Kelly’s sous chef to learn yourself. My aunt who lives in Idaho always requests it when she comes to visit, and my cousin (who actually is a DIY diva) has tried making it but since there’s no recipe, it just doesn’t come out right. So here I am; I’ve figured out measurements so that this recipe can survive.
I’ll preface the list of ingredients a little just to clear things up. You can skip over this if you want, but it’s got a couple of cute anecdotes and tips that might be helpful. Anyway…
My mom and I love garlic. I know a lot of people say they love garlic, but I mean we really love garlic. I’m suggesting 4 decently-plump sized garlic if you like garlic. If garlic is your crack and your tolerance is as high as mine, you can add somewhere between 6 and 8 depending on how big your cloves are (no skimpy cloves, wimp). As far as the asparagus goes, I bought a bag at Costco and find myself wasting the rest of the bag if I don’t use the whole thing. It’s a lot of asparagus. If you’re buying it at the market, you could totally get away with just a single bunch of asparagus, but I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that you’ll probably want more considering how rich the cream can be. On that note, I would also suggest not adding cheese. You can, but it’s already salty and so rich, don’t be excessive. Now for the sun-dried tomato pesto, you can find this in pretty much any market. We always used this one brand, Sun Bella or something like that, because it had pine nuts in it and had a great texture and flavor. I have yet to spot it in the last year. I even dared to go into Walmart to find it because I was that desperate. Don’t worry, I found a replacement that’s just as good sans pine nuts - Mezzetta ‘Sun Ripened Dried Tomato Pesto’. There are other brands out there if you can’t find this, but this has the brightest flavor (and your sauce won’t have a dingy brown color either- far less appetizing). I found it in the aisle above the tomato paste and canned tomatoes. For the cream, I’m suggesting whipping cream (not heavy whipping cream). If you for some reason can’t find it, a combo of heavy whipping cream and half and half will work- the majority of it being heavy whipping cream. That’s about it. A little lengthy in explanation for things, but the bottom line of this whole boring thing is that it’s easy and it’s a dish that is super flexible. Add more salt if you think it’s lacking. Add some pepper if you think it needs some. Use a different shape pasta if you don’t have this one. Think of this recipe more as a ‘guideline’ for a really tasty pasta.
Farfalle with Asparagus and Sun-dried Tomato Cream Sauce
Serves 4 fatties or 6 normies
Ingredients:
1 lb. Farfalle (Bow-Ties)
1-2 bunches of Asparagus, trimmed and cut on bias (1/2″)
4 cloves Garlic (or 8 if you’re a crackhead), thinly sliced
¼ cup Sun-dried Tomato Pesto
1 ¼ cup of Whipping Cream
3 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
½ tsp. Kosher Salt (or to taste)
Fill a large pot with water, cover, and bring to a boil. Add the olive oil to a large skillet or sauté pan (a skillet might be a little less messy in the long run).
Trim the asparagus to remove the tough, woody texture on the ends of the spears. A small trick to determine where the tender part of the asparagus starts, bend the asparagus and let it naturally break. The break will show you exactly where the tough texture will end. If you’re neurotic like me, I’ll break every single asparagus. If you’re perfectly normal, use this break as a guideline where to trim the rest of the asparagus.
Cut the asparagus on a bias to get the most surface area. They should be about a half inch in length. Place in the skillet and add salt. Add a dash of water and cover to let the asparagus steam. Cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, remove the lid from the asparagus and add the sliced garlic. Cook for another 5 minutes until the garlic is tender. Next, add the sun-dried tomato pesto and stir until the asparagus and pesto are mixed evenly.
Once it’s mixed evenly and heated through, check to see if the asparagus is done (fork-tender). Once it’s tender, turn the heat off and start on cooking the pasta. This can be done in advance if you can’t devote a solid chunk of time to this whole process. Once the cream is added and pasta is boiling, the rest of the dish should go straight to the table once it’s done. Cold, coagulated cream sauce is not lit.
At this point, it’s time to add the pasta to the boiling water. Before adding the pasta, pour a large amount of kosher salt into the water. If you were to taste it (don’t be a fool, it’s boiling water), it should taste as salty as the ocean to give the pasta some flavor. Cook the pasta until ‘al dente’. Cooking times for al dente will be written on the box. You want the pasta to have a bite to it when it comes out of the water, some texture and life to it. At about half-way through cooking time, reheat the asparagus on medium. Add the cream slowly as you stir.
Don’t worry if the oil from the pesto looks separated from the cream. Let the cream come up to a boil while stirring. As soon as it starts to bubble, reduce the heat to low and wait for the pasta to finish. When the pasta is al dente, drain it, and add it directly into the pan. Toss the pasta and sauce together until it is evenly coated and all combined. Check for salt and add more if necessary.
·̇·̣̇̇·̣̣̇·̣̇̇·̇ ʚɞ Blessing the new year with lots of love 💕 can't wait to see what puppy kisses, good food, and new adventures are in store ʚɞ ·̇·̣̇̇·̣̣̇·̣̇̇·̇
vaporwave
2087
kianamaiart
baratheonpilled
gummygunk
germansingergirl
kaledo-art