Lemony Vegetables and Pasta

This is a delicious springtime meal. As I paged through the Taste of Home cookbook Mom sent us, this one caught my eye and got tagged with a special post-it. Yesterday I was craving a veggie pasta dish, so I pulled out the recipe book and miraculously I had all of the ingredients (except my pepper was green instead of red). Man, did I rejoice. I threw in some mushrooms too and enjoyed every bite. Mmm. It was really quite quick though more entailed than I have been doing for dinners recently. It was worth it. (Coincidentally, this recipe was submitted to Taste of Home by someone from Santa Clara, Utah...our old stomping grounds.)

Lemony Vegetables and Pasta

Prep: 25 min. Cook: 15 min. Serves: 7

Ingredients

• 1 pound fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 medium sweet red pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 medium red onion, sliced
• 8 ounces sliced mushrooms (my addition)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 4-1/2 cups uncooked bow tie pasta
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
• 1/2 cup chopped pistachios (Didn't have these. Sad.)
• 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced (I just used dried and it was great)
• Additional shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions

• In a large bowl, combine the asparagus, red pepper, onion, mushrooms, oil, salt and pepper. Transfer to a greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan. Bake at 450° for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown, stirring once.
• Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions. In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in the flour, garlic and pepper flakes until blended. Whisk in broth until blended. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened and bubbly.
• Reduce heat. Stir in the cheese, sour cream, lemon juice and peel; heat through. Drain pasta and place in a large bowl. Add cheese sauce and asparagus mixture; toss to coat. Sprinkle with pistachios, basil and additional cheese. Yield: 7 servings.

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Lemony-Vegetables-and-Pasta

• Prep: 25 min. Cook: 15 min. Yield: 7 Servings

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I think I like Lemon Linguine from Mom's cookbook a little better than this if it had all these yummy grilled veggies. I'm going to try that next.