Creamy Pasta with Asparagus and Bacon
Fresh Asparagus are sizzled with bacon and then simmered in a cream sauce before adding your favorite pasta for a quick and easy dinner idea.
Ingredients
- 300 grams Pasta
- 1 pound Fresh Asparagus
- 5 strips Bacon
- 4 cloves Garlic minced
- ½ large Red Onion finely chopped
- ½ cup Chicken Broth or your preferred broth
- 1 cup Heavy Cream
- ⅛ teaspoon Freshly Cracked Pepper
- 1½ cup Parmesan Cheese freshly grated
- 1 tablespoon Lemon Juice (see notes)
- 1 tablespoon Fresh Parsley for optional garnish
Instructions
- Start by bringing a large pot of water to a boil. Add a tablespoon of salt to the water and cook your pasta as directed on the package. While the pasta is cooking, cook the sauce.
- Prepare the asparagus by snapping off the woodier and discolored bottom ends. (see notes). Cut off the top tips and set them aside, they will be added at a different time. For the rest of the asparagus, chop in small ¼ inch pieces.
- Chop up the strips of bacon in ½ inch pieces and add them to a large frying pan on medium heat. Cook until it starts to look crispy.
- Add the small chopped pieces of asparagus and the chopped onion to the pan with the bacon. Cook for 5 minutes or until the onions are translucent. Add the minced garlic and continue cooking for 2 minutes while stirring.
- Pour the broth into the pan and then proceed by adding the heavy cream and freshly cracked pepper. Stir to combine and bring to a simmer.
- Add the Asparagus tips to the sauce and keep simmering for 5-10 minutes, or until the sauce has reduced by a third. It should be able to lightly coat the back of a spoon.
- Turn off the heat and stir in the 1½ cup of grated parmesan cheese until melted. It should thicken up the sauce beautifully.
- Add the cooked pasta into the pan with the sauce. Drizzle in the lemon juice and stir everything together.
- Serve with extra parmesan cheese and optional lemon zest and parsley.
Video
Notes
Lemon Juice and Zest: If using a fresh lemon, use the juice of half a lemon. For extra flavor, you could also add lemon zest as a garnish.
Preparing the Asparagus: When the asparagus are harvested, they might have grown to different heights, resulting in some of them having different ends when packaged. When preparing asparagus, 0nly snap off the bottoms that have a tougher discolored woodier end. Cutting them all off at the same height with a knife will result in a lot of wasted asparagus.
Nutrition
Calories: 622kcalCarbohydrates: 53gProtein: 25gFat: 35gSaturated Fat: 19gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 0.03gCholesterol: 89mgSodium: 733mgPotassium: 472mgFiber: 4gSugar: 6gVitamin A: 1697IUVitamin C: 9mgCalcium: 431mgIron: 3mg
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