Asparagus, pasta and cheese dish

I have made this dish a couple of times, so many that this time around I adapted it from my head, not looking at the recipe.  This is what I did:

• Wash 1 pound of asparagus.  I've recently learned how to snap them.  Hold the asparagus lightly in the middle and put pressure on it until it naturally breaks, separating the hard and tender parts of the asparagus.  After doing this to all of the individual asparagus, you may have more of the "hard" ends than the tender parts that you'll cook, but it will be worth it.  I've not had a hard-to-chew piece in my cooking since I've started this technique.

• Cook the asparagus in salted boiling water for about 5 minutes.  It doesn't take long to cook them.
• Take the aspargus out of the water without draining the water.  I use salad tongs to help me.
• Keep the asparagus in the oven while you cook the pasta.  You may put the oven on a low setting. I add a little butter on top of the asparagus, but that step can be optional.
• Add 1/2 to 1 pound (depending on how much you want to make) of your choice of pasta to the "pre-used" asparagus water.
• Cook pasta until al dente (or however you like it).  This time reserve some water for later while you drain the water.
• Combine the pasta and asparagus.  Top the pasta dish with lots of Parmesan cheese and parsley.
  

  

  Picture of the next-day leftovers
  
  

  Adapted from: Fletcher, Janet. Four Seasons Pasta: A Year of Inspired Recipe in the Italian Tradition. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, 2004.
  
  

  

  Another variation with green beans, made on December 30, 2010