Once the first crop of Asparagus hits grocery stores, my husband and I can’t wait to get a couple of bunches and make this pasta dish. It is his favorite pasta dish, which I actually created by accident. A couple of years ago, I had some asparagus that needed to be eaten and I was craving pasta, so I took stock of what we had available in our fridge: Kalamata olives, feta cheese, chicken, walnuts and onions and threw this together. The result was heavenly! It is now one of our “regular” Spring dishes!
Ingredients
- 1-2 bunches roasted or grilled asparagus
- 1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives, halved or quartered
- 1 small red onion, medium dice
- 1 large chicken breast cut into small chunks
- 1/2 cup roasted walnut halves, rough chop or crumbled by hand
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 cup whole wheat penne or fusigli noodles
- 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1/4 cup of feta cheese
- pinch of red pepper flakes
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Toss washed and trimmed asparagus with 1 Tbsp of olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper and place on a baking sheet. Roast in the oven at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until starting to get browned. Remove and cut into 1 1/2 inch segments.
- Meanwhile, pour 1 Tbsp of olive oil into a pan at medium heat and saute garlic and chicken until browned. Season with salt and pepper. After chicken has browned slightly, remove from pan and place in a dish and set aside.
- While chicken is cooking, boil water in a small pot. Once boiled, add a good sprinkle of salt and whole wheat pasta. Cook accordingly.
- After chicken has been cooked and set aside, add onion to pan and cook until caramelized. Next, add asparagus, chicken, Kalamata olives, a sprinkle of Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, walnuts and mix.
- Drain cooked pasta noodles (reserving a teaspoon or two of pasta water) and pour into chicken mixture, along with reserved pasta water. Mix well.
- Divide pasta among two plates and top with feta cheese. Enjoy!
I have just recently discovered that I really like asparagus. I am going to have to start making it on my own! ๐
Thanks for stopping by my blog and helping me celebrate my SITS Day! Have a great weekend! ๐
Thanks for visiting my blog! I think one of the reasons why I love Spring so much is that I can eat plenty of asparagus! ๐
This sounds delicious! I’m adding it to my menu plan. ๐
Thank you! It is yummy!
Yum! Never thought to combine asparagus with those flavors! Stopping by from SITS
It is one of my favorite pasta dishes! Thanks for stopping by. I hope you will visit again!
This looks so good!! I have made another recipe that is just roasted asparagus with feta (not with pasta) that was absolutely amazing – I’m excited to try something a little different! Thanks!
~by the way, I tried using the Facebook commenting above and it didn’t work…not sure if there is a problem with Facebook right now…but regardless wanted to let you know!!
Thanks, Michelle! I love feta on pretty much everything! ๐
Thanks for the heads up with the Facebook commenting; I have to look into that.
This looks so awesome – as a food blogger, I’m always looking for new and delicious recipes – can’t wait to try this one. Happy SITS Day!
Thanks, Danielle! It is really good; I hope you like it!
Great recipe! My kids love asparagus, I’ll have to give this one a try!
My son loves this dish, so hopefully your kids will, too! We actually had it for dinner last night, because it is such a big hit in our household!
We love asparagus at our house! My kids call them green snakes!! Yummy!
Haha, I love your kids’ term for it! My son loves it, too!
Hubby loves asparagus so I’ll have to try this! Visiting from SITS.
It is definitely a favorite in our household! I hope you enjoy it!
Happy Sits Day! This really does look yummy! Have to try this!
Thanks! It is one of my favorite pasta dishes. It is SO good!
This sounds SO good! I’m definitely going to add this to my list of recipes to try!
Thank you, Kristen!
I love roasted asparagus! I am definitely doing to try this! ๐
It is SO good! I actually made it again for dinner last night. I hope you like it!
I have no idea what fusigili (did I spell that right?) noodles are but this looks AWESOME!!!
Thanks! They are the curly short noodles. My son loves them more than any other pasta, so we pretty much buy only those.
Oh my word, my mouth is drooling!! This sounds delicious! I can’t wait to make this!
Visiting from SITS
It is one of my favorite pasta dishes! Enjoy!
Oh wow, this recipe looks fantastic! I have pinned it to my food board. Thanks so much for sharing and Happy SITS Day!
Thank you, Julie!
This looks so darn yummy! I am definitely going to be making this for sure in the future ๐
It is tasty! I hope you like it and thanks for stopping by!
Looks good! Happy SITS Day!
Thank you!