Wild Thistle Kitchen: Roasted Asparagus Pesto Linguine

From Wild Thistle Kitchen

This Roasted Asparagus Pesto Linguine is such a special recipe. It’s not only delicious and unique, but fresh, flavorful, creamy, and just such a beautiful way to use fresh asparagus. It’s also special because it’s an original recipe I created with my dad many years ago (more on that below). I love serving it with linguine fini, if you can find it, but any noodle will work. It’s such a quick and easy meal and a true celebration of my favorite springtime vegetable.

My dad and I created this recipe years ago, and I’ve always wanted to share it here but somehow never got around to it. I went scouring through old emails looking for where we had written about it. What I found was a thread of emails and in one of them I had written up a little Word doc – my first attempt at blogging. In fact, this was created when I was first thinking about starting my blog and my dad and I had some very funny, witty banter surrounding this recipe and my prospective blogging career. I totally got sucked down the rabbit hole and started reading lots of our old emails. Of course, by the end of it I was laughing and crying but reminded of what a wonderful relationship we had and how much we both loved food.

What this Word doc lacked, however, was the actual recipe for the roasted asparagus pesto. I just wrote about how much my kids loved it and how it was a healthy way to “sneak” veggies into them. Not really sneaking, I mean, the stuff is bright green. But I do think there is something about pasta with pesto. Most kids really love it, and mine were no exception. So, this recipe is recreated and written from my memory, and I think I nailed it.

What you’ll need to make this roasted asparagus pesto

• fresh asparagus – about 1 lb or one bunch
• garlic
• pistachios
• basil
• parsley
• pecorino and parmesan
• olive oil
• lemon juice and zest
• salt and pepper
• 1 pound of your favorite pasta
• and a little extra cheese, lemon zest, chopped pistachios, and herbs for topping 

It’s just a matter of roasting the asparagus and garlic, letting them cool slightly, and whizzing all the ingredients up in a food processor. Super easy. And this makes just the right amount of roasted asparagus pesto for 1 pound of pasta. My dad and I loved it with linguine fini. Though some stores carry it, it can be hard to find, however, and I’ve just started ordering mine online. Use whatever pasta shape or size you love.

That’s it! Serve this pesto any way you like. It’s delicious on cheesy garlic bread, inside panini or grilled cheese, or on a cheese and charcuterie platter. Although, my preference will always be to serve it tossed with linguine fini the way my dad and I had it all those years ago. I hope you love this recipe. xo – Anita

For the full recipe, visit wildthistlekitchen.com/roasted-asparagus-pesto-linguine/

tagsAsparagusgarliclemonLinguinepestopistachios