Penne pasta with asparagus, lemon, and tomatoes

Bunches of asparagus look irresistibly fresh and appealing in May and June, and lend themselves to grilling, broiling, or pasta primavera. This dish resembles a warm pasta salad, equally vegetables and pasta. I chose penne because it's roughly the same size and diameter as thin asparagus spears, and I cut the asparagus into penne-length pieces to emphasize the effect. Lemon brightens the whole thing up for early summer.

You will want (makes leftovers or can be easily halved):

• 1 bunch asparagus
• 1 pound pasta
• 1 tomato
• 1 lemon
• 4 cloves garlic
• olive oil
• parmesan

Begin boiling salted water for your penne. Once boiled, add the pasta and cook until al dente, then drain and set aside.

Wash your asparagus, trim the bottom 1" from the stems, toss in olive oil, and either grill or spread out on a baking sheet to broil 5-15 minutes. I've burned dishes numerous times while broiling, so check on these every five minutes to avoid burning!

Meanwhile, finely chop four cloves of garlic and sauté in olive oil in a large frying pan. Add one chopped fresh tomato and cook until slightly soft, then turn off the heat.

Once the asparagus is no longer stringy, remove from the oven, cool, and cut spears into penne-length pieces. Toss the penne and asparagus into your garlic-tomato sauce, add the juice of one lemon, grated parmesan, and black pepper. Enjoy!

Summer hiatus and return

Coming off of six weeks of board studying, I returned to Albany in June for two weeks of orientation to third year and an apartment move. How rare to be in Albany without a dizzying number of facts to study, and yet everything that had piled up over the past few months, along with packing, provided plenty of activity. Long summer days, relatively relaxed, an entirely free three-day weekend... somehow it called neither to cooking nor to pulling out my laptop to blog. Only now, on a hiking vacation with my parents a small modern wooden cabin, tucked in for a second consecutive day of rain and waiting for a cloud to lift, do I have time to catch up!

Whether because you are working absurdly late and long (keep up the good work, interns and third years!) or hiking and swimming until sunset, summer dinners call for vegetables and minimal time in the kitchen. Here are a number of quick fresh vegetable dishes for the cook who hardly feels like cooking:

• Penne pasta with asparagus, lemon, and tomatoes
• Grilled vegetables (and fruit!)
• Zucchini ribbons with garlic

Sometimes, there are better things to do than cook…

Fresh pea soup

It's summer! What happened to May? I can't remember... something about a big exam...

It was raining and cold all last week in Albany, however: fresh pea soup seemed like the perfect compromise between summer expectations and a more chilling reality. This soup can be whipped up in about 15 minutes.

Fresh pea soup:

• 1-2 cups fresh or frozen sweet peas
• 1 small onion
• 1 tablespoon butter (this recipe calls for no cream, so use the butter)
• dash of olive oil
• chicken or miso broth (1 tablespoon miso paste dissolved in 1 cup boiling water)
• salt and pepper to taste

Chop the onion, melt the butter and olive oil in a small saucepan, and saute the onion on low heat for for several minutes until translucent, stirring occasionally. Add the peas (frozen right out of the bag is fine), stir, and saute for a few more minutes. Add about a cup of broth (just enough to cover the peas and onions), cover the pot with a lid, and leave it alone for a 5 minutes (I took a shower during this time). Cook just long enough for the peas to soften a bit so that the skins will puree more smoothly, but not so long that the peas turn that sickly yellow-green color. Turn off the heat and remove the lid to cool, then puree with an immersion blender and adjust seasonings. Serve hot or cold!

The soup will be this color! 

(Flowers at the summit of Sleeping Beauty mountain by Lake George, NY.)