Lemony Goat Cheese Pasta with Sautéed Asparagus

Item # 3 of eating down the pantry : Pasta. I haven't been eating much pasta at all in France - Im just so obsessed with quesadillas and quiche and soup. But now it's time to finish it up. I was blog browsing and I came across a lemony goat cheese with asparagus pasta dish. Unfortunately I don't remember where I found it - sorry!



I made this dish for my birthday and invited Therese and Paula to come over and share it with me. I had been craving some asparagus ever since the last dinner in Italy when the 4 of us went to the market in Florence and made a huge going away dinner together. Plus, it's in season right now and veggies and fruits are always best in season.

So I trekked up to the market the morning of my birthday and ordered a kilo of asparagus. I had no idea how big a kilo would be - but its manageable once you cut the stems down. Plus - I was pleased to find that the asparagus that is grown here locally is a bit different than what we have at home....see below.


Does this look like an asparagus to you?


Have you ever zested with a potato peeler? Takes forever!

Lemony Goat Cheese Pasta with Sauteed Asparagus
Serves 4

1 kilo (2 and a half pounds I think) fresh asparagus, trimmed
1 large log of goat cheese
1 large lemon, zested
several cups of pasta (I always eyeball it)
1/4 cup olive oil plus 2 tbsp
1 tbsp herbs de provence
salt and pepper

1. Put a pot of water on the stove and bring it to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente. When you drain the pasta reserve about a cup of the pasta water.
2. While the pasta is cooking, heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet. Add the asparagus, season with salt and pepper, and sauté until the asparagus is tender but not mushy,5-7 minutes.
3. In the pot you used for the pasta (which has now been drained and is still in the colander) combine the goat cheese, olive oil, herbs de provence and lemon zest. Mix well until the cheese has melted. Little by little add the reserved pasta water until you get the desired consistency.
4. Add the pasta back to the pot and mix well. Then fold in the asparagus and serve.


It may not be the prettiest dish you ever prepare but it's quite satisfying.


These pretty little flowers came from Therese. May Day in France is actually a national holiday, like our Labor Day - which means everything is closed and if it were not that way I guarantee you there would be strikes - but it also means that people are selling Muguet des Bois or Lily of the Valley in English! I found a really great explanation of this tradition on Paris Postcard that I really recommend you check out. She explains it so well I don't even want to bother trying!

I had a pretty lovely birthday and I closed out the day with drinks at the Bibliotheque with friends.

Seattle in Pictures Part 3

low-fi Mad Rad show..thats my Katy dancing


William at work






This was the most beautiful day


this will only be funny to Katy and William...i dont want to say which "way" this is..but you two know :)


Katy voming in the sink...jk


lunch at the baguette box...drools over truffle fries


I didnt really work too hard on my series as you can tell


The following pictures are of notes that Katy left around the house for William who is house/coco sitting while she is in MD...too funny not to share





And thats its folks. Seattle is awesome. Nessa should move there and then maybe I will follow.

Seattle in Pictures Part 2

This is kinda the wrong angle for it..but our butts looked awesome


Lurve this girl




Dancing at R Place made us hungry


I made Katy REALLY hungry




On our way to Portland...with no driver-side window


Longingly wanting this dress at Narcisse....check out their blog


What was this place called Katy? We walked around for a good solid hour looking for "a non-corporate Olive Garden" and we came upon this place which was ...well perfect.


Also in Portland...Powells! If i could already spend the entire day in Wonderbook...I could live at Powells no problem. This aisle I have pictured here is an entire aisle for French lit..no joke, what the F. So obviously this is where I hung out pretty much the whole time we were in the store.


We went to the Crystal Ballroom to see some hippy show (Bonnie "Prince" Billy).which totally overwhelmed us as you can see from Katy's darling face


So as midnight came around and we started thinking...huh we should head back to Seattle unless we want to sleep in the car. So! We got the bright idea to plastic wrap the car window because at this point it was pretty cold and the prospect of driving three hours without a window again wasn't so appealing. So yeah..we did it. And we did it poorly. We made a spectacle of ourselves and men stopped to try to help us but shooot we dont need no help being silly. Some guy stopped to admire our work and told us he "liked our technique." Well...we taped it all up and started driving and the noise...well it was awful! So we stopped before getting on the highway and did some more taping and added another layer thinking that would help. We pulled onto the highway and immediately the "window" started to howl and seizure and within 10 seconds it had ripped itself free and was slapping against the top of the car. Failed... big time. So for the next five minutes while we were driving Katy was trying to pick it off the side of her car to stop the noise of it slapping the roof while I manned the wheel and tried not to kill us. The end. We drove home in the cold with no window.

Seattle In Pictures Part 1

Ok...dont expect tourist pictures, I did that last time. Seattle and Portland were awesome. So glad I went! Fanks Katy!


Hello Li'l Ernie!




Puppy loved me :)


OK..last chug pictures I swear


Look at how pretty the sky was on my first day!


See that building in the background? That's the building from the movies Singles...Katy lives right across from it. I've never seen the movie so I can't geek about it like other people who have seen it might but there you have it.


I liked the motivational words she wrote on her mirror...and I felt like a greasy self-pic would capture that well...


First night at the Cresent. Thats Williampoo singing.


William caught my doin' a 'tude face.


and a little bit more


Hello Coco Pigeon


We are buddies

This could be habit forming

Me and my new best buddy...we are a package deal. We danced so much it hurt..what a night

this looks confusing I know...have you seen the sarah palin snl interview? this is them doing "pew pew pew"

The Week You Missed

I didn't take many pictures over the break- just didn't feel like it I guess. Most nights were spent at the bars, so what I do have looks a lot like this. This is from Brewer's Art in Baltimore, a swanky dungeon vampire bar that we went to for Rex's birthday, I would recommend it. Jon and Erik spent a lot of time in Frederick and we had a "sing-along" last night until the wee hours of the morning which is what I have been waiting for all week. We played all the old songs we love, Bright Eyes (You Will You Will You Will) some Socco Amaretto Lime, Get Up Kids, Weezer (Jamie, Say it Aint So), all the old ones I used to sing. It had been a really different kind of break this year,everyone comes home and everyone has problems to one extent or another, and now we all go back. Dinner with Trey, bar hopping with Brittney, movies with Bug, being dragged home by Jon, it has been a long week

Last Free Weekend

Yesterday was beautiful so when Brittney suggested swinging we couldn't say no



And Plus!



Surrey has been a bad little kitten. Do you remember this plant? Take a look here

So last night we went out to Htown to see Pang in her very first art show :) It was a food based show so she made some cute little plushies



I like the fangs :)



mmm



and this one she sold! It's a Durian...did I spell that right Pang?