Impulse buying is a great way to try out new recipes. The inlaws were over for the afternoon, ms ani off working chem ed as a poorly paid adjunct, so it was up to bob to make some kind of pasta for Isgouhi, who is a pasta lover like us. On the way home from a hair cut with his Lebanese cutter of 27 years, bob stops by the Bryn Mawr Acme. 30 years earlier when he first arrived on the Main Line, there was only Acme, and it was pretty unimaginative supermarketing, since apparently the moneyed interests in this affluent pocket of the west Philly suburbs did not have very good taste at the time. But then came a family chain Genuardi's that raised the bar, although it was bought out by Safeway later on, then Giant, and we got a Whole Foods to either side of us, then Trader Joes came in one, then two locations, on either side of us, then Wegmans came to King of Prussia next door. In short the supermarket scene steadily improved over the years. Acme lost ground and a few stores, but the Bryn Mawr location held out and then underwent an extensive rebuild and expansion last year. We had acquired an anti-Acme bias by then so it was this random stop to get some yogurt to accompany the lamajoun the inlaws had brought that forced the issue of an impromptu visit, and on entering bob found nice thin asparagus on sale so he grabbed two (one for the dinner, one for the in-laws to take home), not to mention those supergreens that had disappeared from the local Giant (conveniently between work and home for dr bob), and the almond mini Magnum ice cream bars that ani had become addicted to from Wegmans until they stopped carrying it. How rude. So the asparagus sealed the deal, lemon asparagus pasta would be the goal, since it struck some recognition note inside bob's food memory banks.
Google quickly finds the "best lemon asparagus pasta recipe" and bob is skeptical at first but it came from Epicurious.com, the website of Buon Appetit (25 year subscriber until he quit the habit) and the expired Gourmet magazines (occasionally impulse bought when it existed), so it seemed worth the risk. One hitch, heavy cream. Normally we are against this ingredient, but once in a while, why not? So bob and Paul are off to Whole Foods for cream and some kind of fettuccine which bob thought was a better pairing than linguini. At first we grab De Cecco durum wheat flour fettuccine $3.99, but then bob spots a 2/$7.00 special (vegan) Bonachia whole wheat fettuccine, much cheaper and whole grain. We only needed one for the recipe. 10oz. Never heard of bonachia seed, but some of its flour gave it the name.
Isgouhi gave us the thumbs up. Maybe its worth the risk of trying in your kitchen?
what they said | what we did | |
1 lb asparagus | 1 lb asparagus | |
1 lb linguini | 10 oz whole grain fettuccine (should be a long pasta) | |
3 T unsalted butter | 3 T unsalted butter | |
3/4 c heavy cream | 2/3 c heavy cream | |
2 T lemon zest, freshly grated (about 3 lemons) | 1 T lemon zest, freshly grated (about 1 lemon) | |
1/4 c fresh lemon juice | 1/4 c fresh lemon juice? (1 lemon, not measured) | |
3/4 t salt | 1/2 t salt? why not a little pepper too? | |
1/3 c basil (parsley), finely chopped fresh leaves | 2 T chopped fresh basil? parsley? | |
1/2 c parmesan cheese, freshly grated | 1/2 c parmigiano |