Fantastic fresh asparagus and oyster mushrooms shine in this simple and delicious vegan dinner. A terrific family recipe, ready in 30 mins.
My daughter Kipper and I were in town recently, and spotted the first of the English asparagus on the market. The season is just starting, and doesn’t last long enough, so I snapped up a couple of bunches. Seasonal English asparagus is so fantastically delicious that I can’t pass it by. It’s completely different to the imported asparagus you can get year-round in the supermarkets.
Delicious local produce
As we were paying for our asparagus – fresh from the fields of Norfolk, so it hasn’t come far! – I noticed some lovely oyster mushrooms on the stall, too. I had a hunch that their subtle nutty flavour would go well with our fresh and delicious asparagus.
The final element of this dinner was a lemon and pine nut pesto that I used to dress the spaghetti before topping it with the sautéed asparagus and oyster mushrooms. DH and I both really liked it – the freshness of the lemon lifted the other flavours, while the earthy toasted pine nuts emphasised the delicious depths of the asparagus and mushrooms.
Eat in season!
If you see new season British asparagus around, I urge you to try this. Or else just to boil or steam a few spears for a minute or two, and then splodge with melted butter and eat, messily, with your fingers. I typically boil mine in a large shallow sauté pan so they’re all in a single layer – boil the water, chuck them in, put the lid on, and pretty much as soon as the water comes back up to the boil, they’re done. I’m drooling just thinking about it…
We could have eaten more than this. I’d say this serves 2.
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📖 Recipe
Asparagus and oyster mushrooms with lemon-pinenut-pesto spaghetti
Ingredients
- 4-5 tablespoon olive oil (divided - see method)
- 40 g pine nuts (⅓ cup)
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- Zest of a lemon
- Juice of half a lemon
- 150 g Spaghetti (or pasta of your choice) (5.5 oz)
- 2 bunches of fresh asparagus - about 300g in total (10.5 oz)
- 100 g oyster mushrooms (3.5 oz)
Instructions
- Heat 1-2 tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan or skillet over a low-medium heat. Add the pine nuts and garlic and cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes, until the nuts are golden. Tip into a bowl and allow to cool.
- Put the pine nuts and garlic into a mini chopper, and add the lemon zest and juice, and another 1-2 tablespoon olive oil. Process to a coarse paste, and set aside.
- Bring a large pan of water to the boil, and cook the spaghetti as per the directions on the packet (ours took 11 minutes). Drain, reserving some of the cooking water, and keep warm.
- Meanwhile, snap off the woody ends from the asparagus, then cut each spear in half. Slice the oyster mushrooms into chunky strips.
- Heat 1-2 tablespoon olive oil in a frying pan or skillet (you can reuse the one you cooked the pine nuts in earlier). Fry the asparagus and mushrooms over a medium heat for 4-5 minutes, until just cooked.
- Stir about 2 tablespoon of the cooking water into the pesto to loosen the consistency, then toss with the pasta. Serve topped with the asparagus and mushrooms.
Notes
Nutrition
I hope you enjoy this asparagus and oyster mushroom pasta. Other delicious uses of fresh summer asparagus include asparagus, mushroom and pesto pizza, fabulous roasted asparagus, delicious asparagus and sun-dried tomato carbonara pasta, and buckwheat crepes with creamy asparagus, beans and mushrooms.
Since asparagus are very much in season right now, I’m adding this recipe to the Simple and in Season challenge, organised by Ren at www.renbehan.com.
Eat Your Veg
Sounds delightful Helen, bursting with spring freshness. Love your pairing with oyster mushrooms and a light pesto. Delish. Thanks for linking up to the Asparafest competition.