Spring just may be my favorite season. That feeling of warmth and sunshine……it almost makes going through the cold Michigan winter worth it. Here’s how Dennis and I celebrated the season last night.

Warning: I didn’t measure anything so this recipe is “loose”.

Pasta with Asparagus, Smoked Salmon and Pinenut
serves 2

Ingredients:

1/3 bag of Al Dente® Pasta (I used Egg Fettuccine)

nice bunch of asparagus, cut on the diagonal

a little smoked salmon or gravlax

1/2 cup pinenuts, toasted

2 Tbsp. olive oil

Directions:

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. In the meantime, gently toast the pine nuts in a dry skillet over low heat. Remove from skillet. Then heat the olive oil in the skillet and saute the asparagus until tender and beginning to brown. Sprinkle with coarse salt to bring out the flavor. Once water comes to a boil, add pasta. Right before draining the pasta, ladle approx 1/4 cup of the pasta water into the skillet with the asparagus. Drain the pasta. Toss in skillet with the asparagus. Put on plate garnished with pine nuts and salmon.

Enjoy!