Spinach Asparagus Pasta Alfredo

I've been stalking farmers' markets. There are nearby ones on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. That's a lot of local food to browse, buy, and try, but I'm totally game for it. If you've got any great recipes for vegetables, send them my way.

Last week I'd planned to make pasta alfredo and the bag of frozen broccoli in the freezer just wasn't going to cut it, so I picked up some asparagus and spinach at the Thursday farmers' market. I did a quick saute of the vegetables with a tiny bit of oil and salt, then served them over pasta with a homemade alfredo sauce. The only thing that would have made this meal better is if I had homemade pasta. Courtney made some recently that makes me want to buy a pasta roller pronto.

Here's the alfredo recipe if you want to try it out. I'm ok with buying jarred pasta sauce when I need to fix dinner in a hurry, but this sauce only has a few ingredients and tastes so good. The small amount of effort results in a creamy, flavorful sauce.

Alfredo Sauce
(from somewhere on the internet, but I can't remember where)

½ cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Freshly ground black pepper and salt, to taste

Simmer the cream and butter in a saucepan over low heat until it has slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. (Tip: Don't cook too long or your sauce will fall apart, making an oily mess.) Add the cheese, remove from heat, and stir until mostly incorporated and melted. Add freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste.

I added some dried Italian herbs and garlic powder, but this sauce would also be great with fresh herbs like oregano and thyme and some minced garlic.

This recipe makes 2-4 servings. I like to double it so we'll have some for leftovers. I also don't use too much sauce per serving. It's a very rich sauce, and I don't want my pasta to be swimming in it.