Asparagus Pasta

The salmon was good...not absolutely positively over-the-top good but as good as frozen grocery store fish can be good.

THIS, however, was great. The Big Boy rolled in from Aldi Saturday with asparagus...lovely tiny frozen ones and slightly larger fresh ones. (Remind me sometime...I just can NOT get the Aldi thing down. He does great...fresh German sauerkraut, with real German knackwurst a while back. Ninety-nine cent pineapples. Twenty-four cent cucumbers. I go in there and can't get past the stacked boxes and and the influx of people from Wayne County.) A while back he bought a box of Italian fusilli. I meant to do it with chicken in a cream sauce but...I didn't. It happens.

Asparagus Pasta

1 pound pasta...I used fusilli because it was here but I think bowtie would be nice

1 bunch fresh asparagus

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

1/2 cup water

1 bouillion cube (dissolved in the water)

Salt and pepper to taste

Fresh thyme

1 cup grated hard cheese...I used Asiago; Parmesan or Romano would be nice

1 cup toasted pecan pieces

Cook the pasta just until done...rinse and set aside. Cut the asparagus into bite-size pieces, minus the ends, and saute in olive oil/butter for about four minutes. Add the red pepper and garlic and saute another two minues. Stir in the bouillion water and simmer another two minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Toss together the asparagus, pasta, cheese, thyme and pecans.

On the way to the grocery store I swore I wasn't going to pay $3.50 for a red bell pepper. Got there and lo and behold! There was one in the sale bin! Still had to pay $1.40 but when the dish came out, it was well worth it. I also used fresh lemon thyme, because that's what I put on the salmon. This was very good the next morning, cold out of the refrigerator. If I were going to serve it cold, as a pasta salad, I'd throw in a splash or two of balsamic vinegar.

(I know that picture's blurry and...can't help it. Don't know why. I'll worry about it later.)