How to Cook Perfect Penne and Asparagus Pesto

Penne and Asparagus Pesto. Rinse asparagus spears and snap off and discard their tough ends. Add to the bowl with the pesto and stir to coat them well. Top with toasted walnuts and serve at once.

A bright and lemony pesto sauce with penne and asparagus. A quick and easy spring meal. Toss pasta and asparagus with pesto and toasted pine nuts and serve. You can cook Penne and Asparagus Pesto using 13 ingredients and 9 steps. Here is how you cook that.

Ingredients of Penne and Asparagus Pesto

1. You need 1 packages of Penne pasta or spaghetti.
2. You need 1 packages of Grape or cherry tomatoes.
3. It's 1 of olive oil.
4. It's of Pesto.
5. It's 5 oz of cheese (queso fresco).
6. It's 10 of garlic flavored cracker.
7. It's 1 bunch of Asparagus.
8. It's 1 tbsp of olive oil.
9. You need 2 tbsp of cream cheese.
10. Prepare 2 tsp of dried thyme.
11. Prepare 2 tsp of rosemary.
12. It's 1 of salt.
13. Prepare 1 of pepper.

Looking for another fast and tasty pasta dish? Why not try - Pasta with cherry tomatoes, olives and arugula. The pistachio asparagus penne was a breeze to make and it tasted great! Making asparagus pesto lets you use the peel, which contains a ton of flavor even though it's sometimes too tough and stringy to eat Puréeing lets you sidestep this issue: you keep the peel, and the flavor, but your food processor pulverizes the fibers, even if you use thick spears.

Penne and Asparagus Pesto step by step

1. Bring pot of water to boil and add penne pasta. Cook to Al dente, drain and set aside..
2. While noodles are cooking, set oven to bake at 425. Cut bottom ends off of asparagus. Put rinsed asparagus and tomatoes on baking sheet and drizzle olive oil all over to coat..
3. Roast asparagus and tomatoes for 10 minutes depending on thickness of asparagus. As long as the tips are cooked...the rest of the stalk will be used in pesto. Remove from oven and set tomatoes aside..
4. Chop top tips of asparagus about 1" and set aside..
5. Crumble cheese and crackers into blender. Chop up remaining asparagus and drop into blender..
6. Add olive oil, cream cheese, thyme, rosemary, salt & pepper. Mix till a thick paste. May need to stir and foil it in..
7. In large bowl, add penne and half the pesto. Mix. Continue adding more pesto. I still had 1/4 cup left to use for another dish..
8. Serve portion of pasta on plate. Garnish with asparagus tips and tomatoes..
9. Substitute: I didn't have any pine nuts or sliced almonds. So I used crackers instead. It helps in making it a good thick paste..

There was winter, but it wasn't 'really' winter by any standards. Asparagus Noodles with Pesto - shave your asparagus into long noodles just like fettuccine! These are asparagus noodles, as in ASPARAGUS that you shave thinly to look and act like fettuccine noodles. This asparagus-spinach pesto pasta is topped with simple blackened shrimp, and is TOTAL seasonal comfort food! So, once your pesto is ready and your pasta water is boiling, add in the pasta to start cooking while you saute up your shrimp.