Spring Pasta

For my weekly installment of Things to do with Pasta and Cherry Tomatoes, I borrowed the idea for this spring pasta from the current issue of Cooking Light (Penne with Asparagus, Spinach and Bacon), however I changed it so much that it really bares little resemblance to the original, except for the vegetables used. The method for cooking is closer to this recipe, where I usually start with this type of pasta dish. Here I added spinach, asparagus and bacon from the Cooking Light recipe. This pasta turned out lovely. There is spicy pepper flakes in the oil that really come through, plus the bacon and the green vegetables made it very satifying and beautiful. Even dear husband, at first shocked by the idea of not one, but two green vegetables to contend with, enjoyed it very much. The best way to tell a good pasta dish is if it gets better down toward the bottom of the bowl and you scrape the last bits of sauce as we did with this one.