Rotini With Roasted Asparagus and Sundried Tomatoes.

The rain started as LeeLee and I drove home tonight, first in little dribs and drabs, then harder in big fat drops that hit the windshield with a splat.  As the temperature dipped back into the 50s, I reconsidered the springy meal that was on the menu for tonight, but then I decided: Who cares?  It’s nearly May!  Let’s eat some asparagus and be happy.

And with that, I began work on my version of Robin Robertson’s “Fusilli With Roasted Asparagus, Sundried Tomatoes, and Pine Nuts” from her glorious book Vegan Planet.  A quick comparison of her recipe title and my blog post shows what I did differently – I changed the fusilli to rotini and removed the pine nuts.  (Incidentally, I was hoping to use said pine nuts, but the ones I thought I had in my cupboard were nonexistent there at the last.  So much for that one!)

It looks like her book is now on Google books, so feel free to venture on over there to grab the recipe if you like – I don’t want to reprint it here because I revere this book so very much that I want to be sure to give Ms. Robertson her due!  But suffice it to say, I roasted the asparagus and then sautéed it with garlic and sundried tomatoes while the pasta cooked, adding some salt and pepper for flavor.  Once the pasta was ready, I drained the rotini and tossed everything together in a big glass bowl, adding some chopped basil and parsley from the garden for good measure!  (This marks our first use of the herb garden for this season – hooray!)

We hadn’t tried this recipe before, so I was hopeful but nervous about how it’d come out.  I needn’t have been worried – this dinner was fantastic!  Sometimes sundried tomatoes, particularly the ones packed in oil (as these were), can be a bit strong – sometimes a little too strong for my taste, if you must know the truth.  But tonight, the flavors mingled just perfectly, and the tomatoes gave the dish the perfect amount of tang, balancing the spring asparagus beautifully. We topped our meals with some nutritional yeast for garnish and mowed down two plates full of pasta apiece.  And in true Recessionista fashion, there’s plenty left for both of us to take for lunch tomorrow – hooray!

:)