Asparagus Mac and Cheese

This recipe was adapted from Closet Cooking.

Ingredients:

-4 cups water

-1 1/2 pounds asparagus, trimmed and cleaned, reserving the stems

-1 pound pasta, your choice

-4 tablespoons butter

-4 tablespoons flour

-2 cups cheddar cheese

-salt and pepper to taste

-1 tablespoon grainy mustard

-1/2 cup basil pesto

-1 cup cheddar cheese

Put the asparagus to a boil, boil for two minutes. Drain, but reserve two cups of the water.

Boil another pot for the pasta, cook according to directions.

Melt the butter in a sauce pan, stir in the flour and cook until it is golden brown and bubbly. Stir in two cups of the cheddar cheese until a thick sauce forms. Add in the pasta, pasta water to loosen the sauce as needed, the asparagus and the mustard.

Pour into a greased 8x8 or 9x13.
Top with the additional cheese and pesto.

Bake for 30-40 minutes at 350.

I thought this recipe was good, but my dad loved it. He's asked for me to make it again at least twice since I first made it. My brother wasn't a big fan, he said the cheddar cheese wasn't good in this recipe, especially when reheated. Overall it had more likes than dislikes, I'll probably make it again.

Creamy Cheddar Asparagus

Asparagus is a good vegetable for anytime of the year, and there are a lot of options to flavor it, and this one turned out to be a pretty good flavor combination, I'll be using asparagus and white cheddar again.

I got this recipe from Seasons and Suppers.

I did half of the original recipe, it was a good side dish for 2 people.

Ingredients:
-1/2 bunch asparagus, trimmed of woody ends (about 20 spears)
-1 Tbsp. butter
-3 Tbsp. flour
-1/2 cup milk
-1 egg yolk
-3/4 cups grated white cheddar

-salt and pepper

Cut the ends off the asparagus.

Melt the butter, then add the flour.
Take off the heat, mix in the milk, add egg yolk, mustard,
and salt. Heat again for 2-3 minutes.

I poured the sauce over the asparagus then
added the cheese on top, but next time I make this I would
melt the cheese in the sauce then pour over the asparagus
to make a thicker sauce so it wouldn't run so much.

Bake at 400 for 8 minutes, then broil for 1 minute.

This didn't look as good as I had hoped, but I think if next time I melt the cheese and the sauce together it will hold together more and look better. The taste combination was good, and asparagus goes well with most main dishes.

Beer Battered Asparagus with Lemon Herb Dipping Sauce

Any healthiness from the asparagus in this recipe is probably more than cancelled out by the deep frying and the mayo sauce, but it was worth it. The asparagus had the perfect crunchiness from the deep fryer, and the sauce was perfect for this asparagus. The recipe is originally from Newly Blissed.

Ingredients:
-1 cup flour
-1 lemon, zested
-1 cup beer

-1 teaspoon seasoned salt
-1 teaspoon pepper
-1 bunch asparagus, trimmed
-Vegetable oil for frying

Dipping Sauce
-1/2 cup mayonnaise
-Juice of 1/2 a lemon
-1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper
-1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
-Pinch salt

Cut down the asparagus

Mix the flour, lemon zest, beer, salt and pepper.

Coat the asparagus in the batter.

Deep fry the asparagus for 5 minutes, or until they are brown.

Simply mix together the ingredients for the sauce.
Serve with the asparagus.

I thought this was one of the better recipes we've made. If you don't like lemon, you could leave some out since there was lemon juice in the sauce and zest in the batter, but I didn't think it was overwhelming at all. Alecia and I both really liked the lemon, but J. and her family thought there was too much lemon. If you know that you like lemon go for it, otherwise you could easily use less.

Gnocchi with Grilled Grapefruit and Asparagus

This is our 300th post on Vegetarian & Cooking! It's amazing we've had so many posts in just over a year. Check out some of our earlier posts and look for lots more in the future!

I love grilling, but usually when I think of grilled food, grapefruit, asparagus and gnocchi are not the first three things that come to mind. But I found this recipe from A Spicy Perspective that combines all three and the grill. It turns out the grill is a good way to make lots of foods. This was also a great way to get both a fruit and a vegetable into a single meal. This would also be good to impress people with because all the colors make the dish look good.

Ingredients:

-1 grapefruit
-1 asparagus bunch
-1 box potato gnocchi
-1 Tbsp olive oil
-1 Tbsp butter
-1 Tbsp flour
-1/4 cup heavy cream
-1 cup vegetable stock
-Salt and pepper
-Chives for garnish

Cut the grapefruit into 8ths.

Slice the ends off the asparagus.

Coat both in oil and salt.

Melt the flour, butter, and cream in a pan over medium heat.

Add the vegetable stock.
We used a burner on the grill and it got pretty hot.
Remove from heat and set aside.

Cook the gnocchi according to package directions.
This took about the same amount of time to cook as the
grapefruit and asparagus did, so if you start them about
the same time they should be ready to serve together.

Grill the grapefruit for about 2-3 minutes on each side.

The asparagus takes about the same amount of time.
It was a little difficult to turn over without it
falling through the grates.

Add the gnocchi to the roux and coat.

Put everything on one plate.
Add salt, pepper, and green onions to the gnocchi.

Eat by mixing everything together in one delicious bite.

Or squeeze the grapefruit over the pasta. 

This turned out to be a pretty good combination. I thought this was going to take a long time to make, but it was probably only 20 minutes from cutting the fruit and vegetables to serving, especially since the grilling time was so short.