After my Chicken Pesto dish I had a plenty of pesto left over for future use. I had absolutely no desire to let it go to waste, so I decided to get creative – Pasta with Pesto Cream and Asparagus. It’s quite important to note that I’ve never – ever – made a cream sauce before and I decided to wing it.
So here goes.
Ingredients Needed
- ½ Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
- 1 pint heavy cream
- 2 tbsp Butter
- 1 tsp corn starch
- 4 tbsp Pesto Sauce
- 1 Box Fusilli (well, whatever pasta you so desire)
- 1 Bunch Asparagus, cut
1)Begin Fusilli when you start your cream sauce
2)Heat the heavy cream until it starts to simmer, add butter and mix until it melts
3)Mix in corn starch, simmer for 2 minutes
4)Mix in the pesto sauce and and grated Parmesan cheese, simmer until for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
5)Drain pasta, place into large skillet and add pesto cream sauce and asparagus. Heat over low flame until the asparagus is crisp
I was very, very surprised at how well this turned out. I had expected this to turn out like a really, really bad science experiment, but no! Depending on your taste, you may wish to hold off on the asparagus as it has the ability (especially on how fresh it is) to add a slight bitterness to the dish.
It is interesting to note they sauce is very, very lite in the end. The pesto is not overwhelming, actually it is quite subtile. A great adddition to the dish would be some chopped chicken and pine nuts or sliced almonds.
If you have another cream sauce recipe that you would like to suggest, please do. I’m more than willing to try others.
I hope you enjoy!
Related posts:
#1 by Gianna - April 9th, 2009 at 23:12
oh…I’m not surprised it turned out awesome…no brainer by looking at the ingredients…
personally I’d skip the corn starch…
yummy!!
#2 by Van - April 9th, 2009 at 23:43
I think in my next go around with this recipe the corn starch will be left out. The consistency of the sauce was good enough where I don’t really think it added anything.
#3 by Tina - April 10th, 2009 at 18:19
If you’ve never made a cream sauce before you sure did a great job. And I know what you mean about leftovers….I try and use everything in the frisge. It either is a leftover dinner or soup. I printed this one but will wait to make it because of the heavy cream……my Nigella kick, and her cream, is expanding my waistline!
#4 by Van - April 10th, 2009 at 21:49
Thanks Tina! The heavy cream was something that “seemed” to be the right call as I was trying to figure out what to do and, yep, it worked out quite well. Please do let me know what you think.
#5 by Bob - April 11th, 2009 at 00:58
Looks great! When I make a cream sauce I usually use a roux to thicken it, have you tried that? Course, if you’re using heavy cream it probably won’t need much thickening.
#6 by Van - April 11th, 2009 at 16:05
@JT
What was the recipe you suggested for the cream sauce?
#7 by Van Santos - April 11th, 2009 at 22:36
I have not tried roux, but my family uses it often. I figured the heavy cream w/ a touch of the starch would do it. I’m open to as many cream recipes (yes, I like it!), so if there are some good ones I should try, pass them on!
Thanks for stopping in, Bob.