Roasted Asparagus Pasta Salad

You can find the recipe by the Neely's for the evening here: Roasted Asparagus Pasta Salad. Their show, Down Home With the Neely's is just the cutest :-)

Their recipe is easy-peasy.

Clean & cut up the asparagus. Roast it (just means to put it in the oven) with some olive oil, salt, & pepper drizzled over it at 425 for 10 minutes.

While the asparagus is baking & later cooling, go ahead and make your sauce as per their recipe.

Famous Chef Trend Alert: I have noticed that a lot of the Food Network chefs are using scallions instead of red onion, because it has a milder flavor when raw and a sweeter flavor when sauteed. Since the onion is not cooked in this recipe, they opted for scallions :-)

Betinner Tip: A scallion is very similar to a red onion, but smaller in size, color, and flavor. They can be found at your typical grocery store...not a specialty item. I assumed they were when I first started cooking a few months ago, because I had never heard of them. I drove all the way to Meijer to get some and then realized the next time I was shopping that they were right there in front of me at Walmart..., LOL!

My new favorite ingredient: lemon zest!!! Adding the lemon takes this from just an ordinary pasta salad to something that tastes summer fresh!

Sauce is ready for the pasta!!!

Mix up the pasta & asparagus first. Then add the sauce right before eating. Mindy's beginner cook tip: wait until the last minute to put on the sauce. I tasted the salad right after I made it and it was divine. I put it back in the fridge for about 20 minutes while I prepared the rest of our dinner and by the time we got around to eating it, it was already dry :( So I can tell you that this pasta salad tastes amazing right after the sauce is mixed in...so wait until you are really ready to serve before adding it in. This can be a make ahead dish...just hold off on the final mixing until right before you serve it. Also, if you know you will have leftovers, only add the sauce to half of the pasta/asparagus mixture, just like you would do if you were dressing a lettuce salad. Instead of the dressing making the lettuce wilt, the pasta soaks up the dressing and causes it to get very dry.

The final product (right after the sauce goes on):

Love this dish...an easy one for a summer get together.