Spring Asparagus Puree

One word – YUM! Sunday night, I pulled out my “Super Natural Cooking” cookbook…

…to try out the recipe titled “Straw and Hay Fettuccine Tangle with Spring Asparagus Puree”. With ingredients like asparagus, parmesan cheese, and pine nuts – how could one really go wrong? The gist of the recipe is the asparagus puree (think pesto-like sauce), which you then toss with fettuccine noodles. I also tossed the puree with some tortellini and still had a good cup of puree leftover. Overall, we were happy with the dish and I will make it again.

Primarily because the asparagus puree doubles as a great pizza sauce. We were looking for something quick to throw together for dinner last night – and I had ingredients on hand to make a Hawaiian pizza. Let me just say this… the asparagus puree as our pizza sauce totally took the pizza to a new level. Both Curt and I thought it was even better than the pizza I made with caramelized onions, pears and gorgonzola cheese. So, that is saying something because we thought the pear pizza was our new go-to winner.

Charlene’s Hawaiian Pizza:

• 1 Boboli Crust
• 1 package of small Canadian Bacon slices
• Sliced Mushrooms
• Cheddar Cheese
• Swiss Cheese
• 1 can Pineapple Tidbits
• ~ 1/4 cup Asparagus Puree (from Super Natural Cooking)

Spread the asparagus puree across the boboli crust, creating a relatively thin layer. Arrange the canadian bacon slices on top of the “sauce”. Arrange the mushrooms on top of the canadian bacon. Sprinkle about a handful of each of the cheeses on top of the mushrooms. And lastly, arrange the pineapple tidbits on top of the cheese. Bake at 450 degrees for about 18 minutes (dependent on your oven – start checking at 15 minutes).

The only “change” that Curt would probably make is substituting mozzarella cheese for the swiss cheese. I personally liked the Swiss and wouldn’t change a thing. But that is the beauty of making pizza at home – you can use whatever ingredients you want.

Back to “Super Natural Cooking” – so far, we are two for two with recipes that I’ve tried. I’ll have to sit down and read through it again to see what I might want to try next. There is a “Winter Rainbow Gratin” that sounds good and has preliminary approval from Curt. Maybe this coming weekend. Have a great day!