Spring has sprung and I ate it for dinner..

I stumbled upon an Asian market yesterday afternoon and I am not exaggerating when I say that I went on a mini-shopping spree of sorts. I found the first coriander that I have seen since living in Heidelberg. The urge to skip down the aisles and sing a happy song was difficult to resist. Yes, I was very happy. So, of course, I HAD to buy some. I couldn’t be sure that they kept it in constant supply, so I had to play it safe. And the same was true with the Thai Basil, Kaffir Lime leaves, and Galangal that I bought as well. Our apartment only has a tiny fridge (below waist height and requires a lot of bending) and currently, for the first time in the 2 months that we have lived here, it is jammed full. The problem is, my life and eating partner, is away again on business all week long. It’s just me and this fridge full of goodies until Saturday, when he returns. Needless to say that once I took stock of everything, I had a bit of a panic attack. So many fresh herbs and produce and so little time. I knew I would need to set out a plan to make sure it all got eaten before their freshness was compromised. And compromised freshness makes me an unhappy girl. And did I forget to mention that in the herb department alone, I had already purchased fresh dill, italian parsley and ‘regular’ basil on Wednesday at the farmer’s market? I’m addicted to fresh herbs. I really need a garden.

But first on my list was my asparagus, which was clearly telling me it didn’t want to wait one more single day. I was tempted to defy it, because now I had far more exciting things to tempt me. But I stayed the course and, in so doing, enjoyed a lovely meal.

So, here’s how I managed to get the asparagus out of the fridge and into my belly last night. And please note that I was so determined that there still be enough light for me to take a picture that I made sure the dish was ready much earlier than I would normally eat in the evening. I suffered for the cause, and for my readers. (mom and dad)

I got the idea for this recipe from Epicurious.com, although true to form I just read the list of ingredients and went about doing my own thing. I didn’t add the salmon, I used onion instead of shallots, fresh pasta instead of dried, I roasted the asparagus instead of boiling it, and I added a sprinkling of parmesan to top it off. And I didn’t measure anything. Their recipe was serving 4 as a main course, I definitely had to make my own adjustments, since I am but one person. And sometimes it’s much more satisfying to just take an idea and run with it. It doesn’t always work, but it most definitely helps you to learn and to make it your own. I was actually very pleased with the dish as it seemed very fitting of spring. And though it calls for heavy cream (I substituted whipping cream) the dish still seemed light.

Although I will say that using the starchy pasta water from cooking dried pasta, as the original recipe indicates, would have added something to the sauce. But I prefer fresh pasta so I was willing to suffer the consequence.

Here’s the link to the recipe at Epicurious.Com, it’s called Pappardelle in Lemon Cream Sauce with Asparagus and Smoked Salmon.