Pasta With Garlic, Tomato, Basil and Asparagus

There are plenty of recipes and techniques for making a simple pasta dish with basil and tomato. Michael Ruhlman, author of many great cookbooks and cooking non-fiction, published a recipe this week on his website for Pasta with Garlic, Basil and Tomato Water. There's a quickie video from an iphone, which makes the technique even clearer.

I had that recipe mind, but had too few tomatoes on hand to generate as much liquid as I'd need (only two average sized plum tomatoes). But I had some asparagus. So a marriage ensued among asparagus and about half the Tomato Water approach.

2-3 plum tomatoes, diced
1 few tablespoons of finely diced basil

• Toss tomatoes, basil and a generous amount of sea salt into a bowl.
• Let tomatoes sit for 20-30 minutes to release juices

1 pound asparagus, trimmed

• Prepare an ice bath. (Bowl of water + ice cubes. But it sounds fancy and professional, doesn't it?)
• Bring a large pot of salted water to boil
• Cook asparagus in boiling water for 2 minutes. Test for doneness. Cook another minute if needed.
• Retrieve asparagus with a spider strainer or tongs. Immediately place in ice bath to stop cooking.

1 pound pasta, such as angel hair or linguine

• Cook per package directions

3-4 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
A handful of torn or chopped basil, to taste
3 tablespoons butter, cut into several pieces

• Heat garlic in olive oil until slightly golden.
• Hold a large strainer over the hot pan.
• Pour tomatoes into a strainer, allowing juices to fall into the pan.
• Add basil, salt and pepper. 
• Allow juices to combine with garlic and tomato juices (tomato water :) )
• Add butter and swirl pan continuously to melt, but keep butter emulsified.
• Add reserved asparagus pieces and put in sauce to slightly warm, while butter melts.
• Toss together sauce and pasta.