a little bowl of sage and sunshine - warm spring salad

Wehave an abundance of Sage in the garden at the moment. It looks so beautiful and healthy. I thought about using some of it in a traditional stuffing or baking it with some pork and apples or I wonder if an apple and sage tart tatin would work? and then I thought about a very humble Italian pasta with sage leaves and butter......

At the market I just couldn't take my eyes of the asparagus! They are soooo cheap at the moment and so.... perfect looking. I LOVE risoni (as you can probably tell by now)and I'm a big fan of, well a lot of things! but cheese, mushrooms and broccolini seemed like a perfect match....

I threw it all together for a delicious and quick meal. enjoy!

ingredients

1 cup risoni, cooked (or you could use any pasta you like)
50g salted butter (to start and another 20-30g if you think it needs it)
300 - 350g mushrooms, sliced into smallish pieces
1 bunch broccolini, kept whole, blanched
2 bunches asparagus, cut in half, blanched
sage leaves (a small handfull)
freshly grinded black pepper
lemon juice
peccorino cheese, shaved into ribbons

how to make your warm spring salad

Get your pot of water on to boil. (If you are going to blanch your brocolini and asparagus you can do that when the water starts boiling, otherwise you can microwave them and set them aside) When boiling add a pinch of salt and 1 cup of risoni. Now you've got 8 minutes to cook everything else.

Grab a large frypan and place over highest heat with the butter. When the butter is really going nutty and has all melted throw in your sage leaves. Let them sizzle for a minute while giving them a stir. Now throw in the mushrooms with a pinch of salt and toss them around. (add more butter if you think it needs it) When they are cooked through, add your vegies, the well-drained risoni, lemon juice and a good grinding of black pepper. Toss through and take off the heat. Pop it all into a large salad bowl if serving as a side dish or plate up individual bowls. Serve with beautiful large strips of pecorino cheese and extra grindings of black pepper and a wedge of lemon.