Crispy Parmesan Asparagus Spears

First off, here's the recipe. I followed it almost exactly (only doubled).  Asparagus is so cheap right now (.99 for a huge bundle), so we made three bundles, doubling the recipe in the mean time.

It's not quite asparagus season around here (at least not for another month or so), but any chance we get to make an asparagus dish on the cheap is good for me.  We used Progresso's Italian Panko, and I omitted the salt and pepper, leaving that to everyone's taste.  It really didn't need either, though.

 Look at how gorgeous those stems were!  My mouth is still watering just at the thought of them.

 One nice aspect of this recipe, in addition to how easy it is, is that you don't really come away with an overly breaded taste.  The breading is nice and crunchy (as panko usually is), but not over powering.

Thomas ate it reheated and said it was still wonderful, but I can't do second day breading.

It's a great side for entertaining or a nice weekend meal.  I, personally, wouldn't do it during the week because I have no patience with multi-stepped sides after work, but when I have the time for it, it is wonderful!

Balsamic Butter Penne with Roasted Asparagus

 This is the week of easy, but amazing, recipes.  I could rant and rave about certain websites, but I know that's getting old.  I just love being inspired!

Today, I kind of think this recipe is akin to mac and cheese.  Not because it is, but because the butter and cheese create that same consistency as when you mix the butter and cheese out of the blue box.

Sorry that there isn't a lot of pictures, but the process goes surprisingly fast (about the time it takes to make the noodles), and I kept forgetting to show my progress!

 The recipe can be found here from Food and Wine.  The only thing that really intimidated me was that I needed to reduce the "1/2 C plus 2 T" down to 3 tablespoons.  It went really quickly, though, mostly because I checked my conversions and I was going from 10T down to 3T, so I was shooting for a reduction of less than a third of the original amount.

Next time, I'll probably use more asparagus, but I'll wait until it's on sale or at our Farmers Market.  I also used a little more than the requested Parmesan cheese, but that can't be surprising to anyone who has read this blog before.

A Tuesday for Thomas

I always brag about Thomas' skills, but I never really showcase him.  Sorry about that, I just hardly ever catch him in the action.  He's on like Donkey Kong and then gone, baby, gone.  So, I snuck into the kitchen this past weekend to catch him making one of our favorites - asparagus!  There's hardly a week that goes by without asparagus in our household, so I thought I'd share one of Thomas' new recipes he's been trying from the Food Network Magazine. 

As you can see, Thomas is already a firm believer in a Pampered Chef kitchen...  Here, he's using the much abused Food Chopper (not a meal goes by where this one gets any rest), and one of our two cup prep bowls, with lid.  That way he can prep the drizzle and take it with him to our cook out and leave the rest of the mess at home!

For this asparagus, Thomas also pulled out the garlic press and our microplane adjustable grater/zester.  These are also staples in the kitchen.  He is not, however, using one of our flexible cutting mats, but I think that's because this one warped in the dishwasher and so it holds the lemon juice in!

As Thomas was peeling the asparagus, I noticed him putting them into iced water.  I know that asparagus grow well in sandy soil, so I know soaking them helps to get them clean, but the ice?  I had no idea.  Thomas, first of all, told me that he was cleaning them in salt water.  He added salt to the water to help kill of any other nasty that still might be on the asparagus.  As for the ice?  He said it seemed like a great way to keep them fresh and crisp.  Seeing as he makes asparagus all the time, I had to trust him on this one!

Finally, when we got to the cookout, he cooked them quite quickly, and then added his drizzle on top.

Yummy!!