The Spears are Here
Updates, tarot talk, and spring recipes
Hey, Team Plants.
It’s been a month for me over here!
Eclipsed
Dan and I traveled to Oswego, NY, to witness the total solar eclipse. However, a wall of clouds either blocked or protected me from seeing it (photo above).
Tarot time!
Last week, I taught my first-ever tarot workshop and gave readings to attendees while everyone browsed the top-shelf collection of non-alcoholic beverages at the gorgeous Wallace Dry Goods in Ardmore.
The event sold out quickly, but there will be more in the future! (Both in-person and online, non-Philly folks.) If you want first dibs on that and other tarot-related stuff, sign up for my just-hatched second newsletter, The Tarot Memo. Like this one, expect an erratic publishing schedule, plenty of typos, and terrible photos!
Spring recipes
I’m probably not the only one of us cooking with ramps tonight. I’ve got the first asparagus of the season as well. In the spirit of the season, I’m sharing a few links to some recipes I developed for Kroger, and the asparagus pesto number below.
Asparagus pesto pasta
If you’d rather skip the oil, use silken tofu, half an avocado, aquafaba, or pasta cooking liquid. The cashews themselves provide plenty of richness.
Serves 4
1 garlic clove
⅓ cup cashews (50 grams)
1 teaspoon salt
8 ounces asparagus, trimmed, tips removed and reserved, stalks chopped
1 cup packed basil leaves (1 ounce)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
12 ounces your favorite pasta
Place the garlic in the work bowl of a food processor and run the processor until it’s finely chopped. Add the cashews and salt. Process until finely chopped, about 30 seconds. Add the asparagus stalks and process until a smooth paste forms, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. With the processor running, stream the olive oil and lemon juice through the tube until combined.
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta according to the package directions. 1 minute before the cooking time is up, add asparagus tips to the water. Drain, reserving ½ cup pasta cooking water.
Return the drained pasta to the pot, and add the pesto. Toss and add a pasta cooking liquid a little at a time until the desired texture is achieved.
There’s so much goodness in this email! But let’s talk about the asparagus pesto. Thing 1) I’ve never done anything with raw asparagus and this is very exciting! (And a little bit scary.) Thing 2) thank you for all the brilliant substitution suggestions for the oil. I usually go with avocado as my oil substitute in pesto, but silken tofu or aqua faba! And if I go the aqua faba route, maybe adding some roasted chickpeas to the pasta…. Thank you for opening up a box of possibilities, Joy!