Paaaaastaaaaa~!

My dear lovely beloved took me to a supermarket in Laurel, and I will FOREVER adore S for the favour. There were lots of cultural food items there-- mainly Korean and Hispanic, but there were some Chinese products too. Anyway, I bought:


Firm tofu
Imitation crab (my suitmate K is gonna teach me how to put it in soup!)
Salmon roe (My guilty pleasure!)
Gala apples (the perfect size for my tiny appetite)
A salmon fillet
Some beef cutlets (for stew, btu Imma make curry)
Pasta~
Vodka sauce (I prefer it to the traditional tomato-in-a-jar)

SO naturally the first thing I did was make a whole batch of pasta with the remains of some asparagus leftovers. :D Simple enough, boil, drain, and nom nom nom with some vodka sauce. S and I had an adventure opening the sauce jar.... Naturally.

TODAY I took some of my leftover pasta (of which there was plenty) and made, with some leftover beef from one of my suitemates, and tomatoes and herbs from the Language House Garden Club (yum! I'm not inclined to buy either of these things, so it's nice to have the garden handy)...

This! (If it looks similar to the Penne Rosa from my brother's beloved Noodles & Company, that's because I thief'd the recipe from recipelink.)  I made a lot less, obviously since I was just trying it out, and I didn't do the chili flake, and substituted my vodka sauce for the marinara. 

1 lb penne cooked al dente
1/4 cup of your favorite marinara
Spring onions sliced
2 cloves fresh garlic, chopped
Crushed chili flakes to taste
1/4 cup mushrooms, sautéed
2 Tbsp cream
Olive oil
Balsamic
Kosher salt to taste
1 bunch fresh Sweet Italian basil leaves, sliced
1 bunch of fresh asparagus
Shaved Asiago cheese

Cook pasta to al dente then chill in ice cold water. Drain, toss with olive oil and set aside.

Chop garlic, slice the onions and mushrooms, de-stem basil, slice and set aside.

Drizzle olive oil and balsamic on asparagus. Toss well. Grill lightly and set aside.

Heat a large sauté pan. Add the olive oil, garlic, mushrooms and spring onions. Stir well. Add tomato sauce when the mushrooms, garlic and onions are sizzling and lightly caramelized. Add salt and crushed chile flakes to taste. Add cream, then the pasta and toss to coat. Pour onto a platter. Finish with fresh sliced basil. Garnish with grilled asparagus spears and shaved Asiago cheese. 

 Guess what. It's delicious. :D

More later. Gonna nom and then shower. 

<3信