Pasta with Asparagus and Mushrooms Recipe

In keeping with our vow to eat less meat and experiment with a more plant-based diet, I was delighted to have found the bones of this recipe in Food and Wine. It’s pure vegetarian, a wonderful balance of textures and flavors with just a shot of heat and enough cream sauce to coat its every ingredient. Mushrooms are a traditional stand in for meat in vegetarian cooking. In this case, I used three varieties. Portobellos in big slices joined half caps of Shiitakes and quartered Creminis.  This gave the dish not only a lot of great mushroom flavor, but also an undeniable ‘meatiness’.  The crisp asparagus and the creamy pasta were perfect counter plays to the mushrooms.  And then there’s that irresistible cream sauce with its bright hint of…