I am always looking for new recipes to simplify and put our Al Dente Pasta spin on them.  My favorite online ezine is Food52.  The graphic styling and photographs are just beautiful.  This recipe called Craig Claiborne’s Pasta con Asparagi, was Adapted slightly from The New New York Times Cookbook (Crown, 1979) by Food52’s Senior Editor Kristen Miglore.   Kristen is doing a series she calls Genius recipes, calling this recipe a blend of three classic Italian sauces of marinara, carbonara, and asparagus.   I liked the history of a 1979 recipe making a come back.

This is how I changed the orginal recipe that looked interesting and could be simplified.  I decided to use Monique’s Rustic Roasted Garlic Sauce instead of the canned plum tomatoes, garlic, herbs, and seasonings.  Since our BonaChia Whole Wheat pasta was a big hit at a recent Detroit Whole Foods event, I decided to use it with this combination of ingredients.

Pasta with Asparagus

1 bag Al Dente BonaChia Whole Wheat flavor, but any cut or flavor would work

1 lb fresh asparagus, cut in pieces, woody ends discarded

1 jar Monique’s Rustic Roasted Garlic sauce

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Begin by boiling salted water for pasta in a large pan.  Cook pasta and asparagus pieces in salted water for just three minutes.  Drain.

While the pasta water heats up pour Monique’s Rustic Roasted Garlic sauce into a saucepan to simmer.  When pasta is drained,  turn off the heat under the tomato sauce and add the beaten eggs, stirring vigorously so that they blend without curdling. Do not boil the sauce after the eggs are added.   Add pasta and asparagus to the tomato sauce and toss with 1/4 cup parmesan.  Top with the remaining 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese.  Season with salt and pepper.