Spring Penne

This pasta... oh my. So delicious! How? I can't even tell you, there's only a handful of ingredients in it and it took 15 minutes to throw together. Seriously though, this is phenomenal...and classy. That's right- this is classy pasta, the kind that deserves to be served for a luncheon with the girlfriends... or for a spring picnic in the park (except it's way too hot in South Florida to have a Spring picnic in the park)...sigh. I'm dreaming again, aren't I? 

1 12-ounce box gluten-free brown rice penne (this is my favorite penne, even though I'm not gluten-free)
1 pound bunch super thin asparagus, trimmed and cut into bite sized pieces 
2 teaspoons dried marjoram
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 purple garlic clove, minced (purple garlic has a bit of a kick, but if you don't have it just use regular)
1 large lemon
1/2 cup veganaise (I know what you're thinking- it's okay to indulge once in a while!)
2 tablespoons fresh mint leaves, diced
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, diced
2 teaspoons fresh rosemary leaves, diced
Freshly ground black pepper

In a bowl add the zest of the entire lemon along with the juice of the zested lemon. Toss in your vegan mayo, garlic, mint, rosemary, and thyme along with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Whisk until completely combined, then set aside to allow flavors to marry. 

Put up your (salted) water on the stove to boil, while you're waiting grab a medium pan and place it over medium-low heat. Add the remaining olive oil to the pan, once hot add in the asparagus pieces and the marjoram, cook until tender-crisp- you still want a bit of a bite to them. Throw in your pasta to the boiling water- my pasta was ready the same time my asparagus were done, roughly nine minutes, but it depends on your pasta obviously, and on how thick/thin your asparagus are. Once the pasta is drained add it back to the pot, along with the asparagus and the bowl of sauce that you made earlier, toss to incorporate. I drizzled a bit of olive oil over each bowl of pasta, along with a few grinds of black pepper and a bit of the vegan Parmesan cheese before serving. 

Vegan Parmesan cheese: equal measurements of raw walnuts to nutritional yeast- pulse in food processor until it comes together to resemble powdered Parmesan, store in airtight container in the cabinet for up to a couple months. I like to add extra nutritional yeast to make it more cheesy, just taste and adjust to your liking.   

Makes 3 large bowls of pasta

Recipe adapted from Gluten-Free Goddess