Looking for something new to do with Asparagus?

I was. So was Mark Bittman. Like two peas in a pod, we are, but he's the more inventive and famous pea.

I made a half-recipe of Bittman's Asparagus Pesto and ate it on pasta (ridges a-must!) with peas. It was tasty enough to be eaten three days in a row: dinner, lunch, lunch again.

Plus, using my Cuisinart is fun! Isn't the pesto a beautiful color?

CSA, what?

After all that hemming and hawing yesterday I made a meal utilizing one measly CSA share vegetable--a sweet, not hot as assumed, red pepper. Despite the non-local-ness of the food, it turned out looking quite nice (good colors) and not bad tasting either. It was my variation on and combination of Bittman's Stir-Fried Chicken with Broccoli and Stir-Fried Spicy Beef with Basil. I was mostly looking to the recipes for technique. The ones I picked up being, parboiling the broccoli for 2 minutes and quick marinating the beef with the basil and some oil. The basil was really over-powered here even though I used a hefty handful. Basil you can't taste= a darn shame. Speaking of basil, I have a hankering for some pesto. I'd love to find a creative way to use it (read: not on pasta).