Asparagus, Veneto Style
Asparagus, Veneto Style
This sounds very ordinary, but it ain’t. A DIY dish, it’s a real pleasure to do some mixing at the table. You can smell the olive oil as soon as it hits the warm egg and asparagus. Go easy on the vinegar, and season carefully.
Ingrediënten
- SERVES 6
- 1.25 kg 2lb 12oz asparagus spears
- 6 eggs
- very good extra virgin olive oil
- salt and pepper
- red wine vinegar
Instructies
- Break or cut any woody ends off the asparagus and put the eggs on to boil.
- When the eggs have cooked for seven minutes, drain and plunge them into cold water.
- Leave to cool a little, but only until they are cool enough to handle.
- Put them into a wire basket or a bowl lined with a tea towel, pulling the tea towel round the eggs to keep them warm.
- Meanwhile, cook the asparagus either in an asparagus pan, or in a regular pan (covered) with the base of the stems in about 5cm (2in) of boiling water and the rest of the stalks and the tips propped up against the side.
- It should take four to six minutes and the spears should be just tender when pierced with the point of a knife.
- Lift the asparagus out of the water, briefly pat dry with a tea towel, put on a platter and drizzle with extra virgin oil and season with salt and pepper.
- Take the bottle of oil to the table with the red wine vinegar and seasoning.
- Each person should peel and mash their egg, adding vinegar and extra virgin oil (about 1 tsp vinegar and 2 tbsp oil per person is about right).
- more spears…
- asparagus with prawns and dill Prepare and cook 1.
- 5kg (3lb 5oz) asparagus as for Asparagus, veneto style.
- While it’s cooking, melt 75g (2¾oz) butter in a frying pan and gently warm 200g (7oz) cooked, shelled and deveined prawns (ideally organic) with the chopped fronds from 6 sprigs of dill.
- Divide the asparagus between plates (or serve on a large platter).
- Spoon some prawns and dill butter over each serving and season.
- Serves 8.
