Pasta

Made this for dinner last night. Turned out to be a great, light spring supper.

Here's how I did it:

I made it up, so there are no exact amounts. Just kind of eyeball it.

Small-size pasta, like small shells, small bowties, small elbows, etc. (I used about 8 oz for 2 people...planning for leftovers)

Fresh asparagus (amount to your liking, and depending on # of servings; I used 1 lb for 2 people….Jon and I love asparagus)

Olive oil

Butter

1-2 whole garlic cloves (to your liking)

Grape tomatoes

Diced grilled or store-bought rotisserie chicken (I used one good-sized breast for 2 people)

Black pepper and shredded Parmesan cheese, to taste

In a large pot, boil the pasta in salted water. In the meantime, cut the asparagus into pieces approximately the same size as your pasta. During the last 2-3 minutes of cooking time, toss the asparagus into the pasta pot to cook up to crisp-tender while the pasta finishes cooking

Peel the paper off the garlic, but don’t dice it up. In a large skillet add 3-4 TBS of olive oil, and 1-2 TBS of butter. Toss in the garlic and set to low-to medium heat; enough to melt the butter but not brown it. The garlic flavor will infuse through the oil/butter mixture.

Toss in a good handful of grape tomatoes and cook until the skin blisters – 3-4 minutes. Add diced, cooked chicken to heat through. Adjust the amounts of oil and butter if needed. You’ll lightly coat the pasta/asparagus mix with the butter/oil, so use that as a guide for quantity. You don’t want the pasta to be greasy, just flavorful.

Drain the pasta/asparagus, and add to the skillet. Toss gently to combine, and then transfer to a serving dish. Remove the garlic cloves. Serve hot, with a dash of fresh-ground black pepper and a sprinkle of shredded (better than grated) Parmesan cheese. This is also delicious cold.

Let me know if you whip this up some night.