Return of the Hulk: Asparagus-Spinach Pesto Pasta with Blackened Shrimp

Last week I stumbled upon this recipe here. I liked it immediately: the pine nuts, garlic and all in a nice green pesto! So when we had our romantic two people / two chefs surprise dinner on Saturday, I thought it fitted well, since I was responsible for the main course (here's the appetizer from Sophie).

At the beginning it sounded rather complicated, but once everything is in the food processor, it's straight forward. The pesto will be for four portions easily, even after I took only half of the amount for the ingredients given:

A handful asparagus
One big hand Baby Spinach
Two cloves of garlic (here I left the original amount ;)
A handful of Parmesan
Half a cup of pine nuts

Boil the asparagus for 3min. in salted water. Drain and keep the water. Cool the asparagus under cold water. Cut off the tips and put the rest in the food processor.
Meanwhile heat up a frying pan and roast the pine nuts (be careful, don't brown them too much). Afterwards add 3/4 of them, the spinach, garlic and Parmesan in the food processor. Add two spoons of olive oil and half a cup of asparagus water and blend everything smoothly. Add more water, if necessary.

Meanwhile give the 250g peeled shrimps into a hot pan and add Cajun (or blackening) powder (check the spicemonger of your choice). Fry until the shrimps are done.

Boil the pasta (Farfalle or similar) according to the packaging in the remaining asparagus water (add more water, if not enough). When ready, drain it and mix with the pesto (as I said, half of it was enough for us), add the asparagus tips and the rest of the roasted pine nuts. Serve topped with the blackened shrimps.

TIP: Peeling the shrimps is quite a lot of work, even for just a few hundred gram. Alternatively (and recommended) use chicken!