woensdag 3 augustus 2016

Always up for a challenge pt. 1



My friend Kimberly (or Berly as we like to call her) had a challenge for me. Short introduction first. Kimberly likes pasta. And a lot of it. Which means she is exactly my kinda girl. So when she asked me to come up with an oven dish for butterfly pasta (known as farfalle by everyone else) I was of course totally up for the challenge.


One obstacle though. It's not really oven dish type-of-weather at the moment. That means pasta salad for now (sorry to disappoint, Berly) and an oven butterfly dish during fall. Or if Belgian weather starts behaving like Belgian weather again anytime soon, it might appear on here next week already. edit: totally the case already - brace yourselves: oven dish coming SOON!


And one more warning: today's dish is called a salad. Yep. Not as healthy as it might sound. Think (non-wholegrain) pasta, pancetta and goat's cheese. All of the good stuff combined. However, it does look and taste green enough to make you believe you're actually being healthy. Win-win.

So here we goooo.

What you need for the salad (huge-ass dinner for 2)
  • 200g farfalle
  • 100g goat's cheese
  • 100g pancetta
  • 100g frozen green peas
  • 10 green asparagus
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • Bunch of mint
  • Some good olive oil
  • Freshly ground black pepper

What you need for the dressing
  • 1 avocado
  • 200g of peas
  • Bunch of mint
  • Juice of 1/2 - 1 lemon
  • Olive oil
  • Salt
  • Pepper

What you do
  • Cook the pasta according to instructions but add about 1 - 2 min to the cooking process. When you let the pasta cool for the salad, it tends to firm up. As in the middle part of the farfalle there's a lot of "pasta folded together" it can feel a bit undercooked once it starts cooling if you drain it too soon.
  • Add the peas during the last two minutes of the cooking. 
  • Drain and drizzle some olive oil on top. Let cool.
  • Discard the bottom part of the green asparagus. If you apply some pressure on the bottom part it will break off naturally, so don't use a knife or whatnot. Just break it off. Put the asparagus in cold water with their butt, so they can soak up some water.
  • Put the asparagus in boiling water for 2-3 minutes depending on how thick they are. They still need to be kinda firm. Together with the pancetta they add the crispy touch to the salad.
  • Drain asparagus and put them in cold water. 
  • Put a non-stick pan on high heat. Add the pancetta and let it burn burn burn. I really love it 100% crispy.
  • Prepare the remaining peas according to package instructions.
  • Peel the avocado and put it in a bowl. Add the peas, a good drizzle of olive oil, lemon juice and salt. Blend away. 
  • Taste the dressing and add more salt if necessary. Or whatever else that might be lacking.
  • Add mint to pea - avocado mixture (only the leafs, not the sprigs). Blend some more. Add some water if too firm.
  • Add everything together: the pasta with peas, the dressing... Put the asparagus on top, crumble the cheese and pancetta over the salad.
  • Finish off with some more mint and a good grating of lemon zest. You really want that refreshing touch in there.
  • Some black pepper on top and you're DONE.
  • Bon'ap!
Tell me, will you try this? If so, please let me know whether you liked it!

Love,
Julie

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