Recipe: Tasty Penne and Asparagus Pesto

Penne and Asparagus Pesto.

You can cook Penne and Asparagus Pesto using 13 ingredients and 9 steps. Here is how you achieve that.

Ingredients of Penne and Asparagus Pesto

1. It's 1 packages of Penne pasta or spaghetti.
2. You need 1 packages of Grape or cherry tomatoes.
3. You need 1 of olive oil.
4. You need of Pesto.
5. You need 5 oz of cheese (queso fresco).
6. You need 10 of garlic flavored cracker.
7. Prepare 1 bunch of Asparagus.
8. Prepare 1 tbsp of olive oil.
9. It's 2 tbsp of cream cheese.
10. You need 2 tsp of dried thyme.
11. You need 2 tsp of rosemary.
12. You need 1 of salt.
13. You need 1 of pepper.

Penne and Asparagus Pesto instructions

1. Bring pot of water to boil and add penne pasta. Cook to Al dente, drain and set aside..
2. While noodles are cooking, set oven to bake at 425. Cut bottom ends off of asparagus. Put rinsed asparagus and tomatoes on baking sheet and drizzle olive oil all over to coat..
3. Roast asparagus and tomatoes for 10 minutes depending on thickness of asparagus. As long as the tips are cooked...the rest of the stalk will be used in pesto. Remove from oven and set tomatoes aside..
4. Chop top tips of asparagus about 1" and set aside..
5. Crumble cheese and crackers into blender. Chop up remaining asparagus and drop into blender..
6. Add olive oil, cream cheese, thyme, rosemary, salt & pepper. Mix till a thick paste. May need to stir and foil it in..
7. In large bowl, add penne and half the pesto. Mix. Continue adding more pesto. I still had 1/4 cup left to use for another dish..
8. Serve portion of pasta on plate. Garnish with asparagus tips and tomatoes..
9. Substitute: I didn't have any pine nuts or sliced almonds. So I used crackers instead. It helps in making it a good thick paste..