I picked up a bunch of asparagus at the grocery store recently with no idea about what I was going to do with it. I don’t really like asparagus but recently we were trying to eat healthier, so when I was in search of a lunch dish that wasn’t a sandwich, I turned to pasta with goat cheese and asparagus.
Not exactly a light lunch but I knew we were having a light dinner so it balances out, right? 😉
The combination of the creamy and tangy goat cheese with the still crunchy asparagus was perfection. Adding lemon juice and zest along with tomatoes and parsley made for a really awesome lunch that came together in the time it took to cook the pasta.
Reserving a little pasta water to add to the goat cheese made for an easy sauce, too.
Ingredients
- ½ lb. pasta shapes
- ½ lb. asparagus spears, trimmed, cut into 1½-inch pieces
- zest and juice from ½ lemon
- ¼ cup cherry tomatoes halved
- 2 oz. goat cheese
- 2 tbsp. parsley, minced
- Kosher salt, to taste
- black pepper, to taste (grind fresh pepper)
Directions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta to package directions. During the final 3 minutes of cooking, add asparagus. Reserve about ½ cup hot pasta water.
- Drain asparagus and pasta. Run them under cool water for about 10 seconds (we need it to stop the cooking process, so 10 sec will be enough).
- Return pasta to the pot and place it back on the stovetop. Add lemon juice and zest, halved tomatoes, goat cheese, and parsley (or use other herbs, I also like cilantro). Stir to combine, adding pasta water as needed. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Heat gently if necessary before serving.
