Asparagus with Roasted Garlic Sauce

There's and abundance of Asparagus around here at the moment, which is fine with me: I love asparagus!! So I started looking for new recipes for me to try out. To my big surprise most recipes out there are for green asparagus, whereas most Dutch people eat white aspargus. I love both varieties. Last weekend I picked up a kilo of green Asparagus at the market.

Today I made the most delicious and simple dish: Asparagus with Roasted Garlic Sauce. I found the recipe here and followed Susan's directions (both for this dish as on how to roast the garlic) exactly, except for using pecans instead of walnuts. Let me tell you: this was amazing!! There's no cream in this sauce, but it tastes sooo creamy! I loved that I could taste all the ingredients: the garlic, pecans and lemon juice, Delicious!! I'm definitely making this again!!

Asparagus with Roasted Garlic Sauce

1/2 head roasted garlic
1/4 cup walnuts (pecans work too)
juice of half a lemon
1 tbsp. water
salt to taste
1 pound asparagus

Lightly toast the walnuts. The easiest way to do this is to put them in the oven with the garlic during the last 5 minutes that it’s roasting. When they’re hot but not burning, remove them from the oven and grind them in a food processor (or mash them to a paste in a mortar and pestle). Add half a head of roasted garlic, the lemon juice, and the water and continue to puree. Add salt to taste.

Prepare the asparagus by snapping off the tough ends (just hold a spear at the bottom and in the middle, and it should snap off in the right spot). Steam them lightly for 3 minutes or until they are bright green and just starting to become tender. Place them in a serving dish, and toss them with the roasted garlic sauce. Serve, trying not to fight over the last spear on the plate!

Sauteed Peppers with Garlic and Thyme for Taste & Create XVIV

For this month's Taste & Create I was paired with KC from Kit's Chow. It didn't take me very long to find a couple of recipes that I wanted to try. As I had just brought home a huge bag of bell peppers and I absolutely love garlic my first pick was easy: Sauteed Bell Peppers with Garlic and Thyme.

This recipe was super easy and real tasty too! I absolutely loved the combination of the sauteed garlic and bell peppers with the balsamic vinegar!! Apparently I can eat loads of these, simply because a) Garlic is good for the cardiovascular system, offers protection against many cancers, offers protection against asbestos and promotes weight control and b) Bell Peppers offer protection against free radicals, reduce risk of cardiovascular disease, offer protection against rheumatoid arthritis, and appear to have a protective effect against cataracts.

Sauteed Peppers with Garlic and Thyme

6 Bell peppers
10 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
a couple of tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
a pinch of thyme
Olive oil

Turn the fire on medium and heat the pan. Add a bit of olive oil to sauté the garlic.
Add the peppers and sauté them until they are coated with oil and become limp.Stir the peppers and sprinkle some thyme over them. Turn the heat to low and cover the pan. Let the peppers cook for about ten minutes.Pour some balsamic vinegar over the peppers and toss to mix.Dish up. Serve at room temperature..

Garlic Noodles

A while ago I saw on Facebook that Shelby of The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch was preparing Garlic Noodles. As I'm a huge lover of both garlic and noodles I bookmarked the recipe instantly.

Yesterday I decided to give this recipe a go and oh my god, did I enjoy it!! I was a bit apprehensive about the oyster sauce, but barely noticed it. Iloved the combination of the garlic and brown sugar!!!



Garlic Noodles
Adapted from: The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch

7 ounces dry Chinese noodles or spaghetti
1 large red onion, minced
2 tablespoons salted butter
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce

Boil a large pot of water and cook the noodles according to package instructions.
Drain the noodles and wipe the pot clean. Place the noodles back in the pot and set aside.

In fry pan bring butter to a sizzle and add shallots and garlic. Stir fry for 1 to 2 minutes being careful not to burn the garlic.

In a small mixing bowl add the brown sugar, soy sauce, and oyster sauce and stir well to mix. Add to the garlic and onions and mix well. Add the noodles and toss well evenly distribute the sauce on the noodles.

Taste & Create XVIII - Mirch Masala - Asparagus Spaghetti

This month I decided to join another interesting cookgroup: Taste & Create.
I had seen this event over at Grumpy's Honeybunch and instantely fell in love with the idea of Taste & Create: it’s whole purpose is to create a community of bloggers who test each others’ recipes and share links. Every month you send an email to let Nicole from For the Love of Food know that you'd like to participate that month, she makes pairs and then you select one (or more) recipes to recreate from the persons blog that you're paired with.

This month I'm paired with Superchef of Mirch Masala. Superchef is a very talented cook that has a lot of Indian recipes on her blog. My intention was to go ahead and try to recreate one of the lovely Indian dishes, but time flied this month and before I knew it it was time to post. As I was in a hurry today I made this easy-to-prepare pastadish.

I really enjoyed it, it was put together very quickly and very tasty. It gave me a chance to use my leftover spinach from the CEiMB-recipe. I absolutely loved it: the way the egg-parmesan mixture coats the pasta that makes an ordinary sauce completely absolete. Go here to check out Superchefs pasta. To see what the other creators made, visit Taste & Create.

Asparagus and Spinach Spaghetti with Garlic,
Basil and Parmesan Cheese

250 grams Spaghetti

300 grams Spinach

4 cloves garlic, minced

8-10 stalks of Asparagus, cut into 1 inch length

1 egg, beaten well
1/2 cup, grated Parmesan + more for garnish

a few basil leaves, chopped finely

a handful of sweet cherry tomatoes, halved

2 tbp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

salt and pepper, to taste

Cook the pasta as per package instructions, drain and keep aside.
In a sauté pan, heat the olive oil and sauté the asparagus, spinach and garlic.
Add the spaghetti to it and toss well.

Meanwhile, mix the egg and the grated parmesan in a bowl and keep aside.
Remove the sauté pan from the heat and then add in the egg-parm mix to it.

DO NOT add this mix while the pasta is on the stove as this will only scramble the eggs.
This way, the eggs cook enough in the heat of the pasta and forms
a nice smooth sauce with the parmesan.

Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Toss in the cherry tomatoes and serve with the basil leaves and
more grated parmesan as garnish.