Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [221]
Even though the center of the stalk is juicy and tender, the darker green fibers that surround it are not, and must be pared away. Hold the asparagus with the tip pointing toward you, and using a small, sharp knife, strip away the hard, thin, outer layer of the stalk, beginning at the base, at a depth of about 1/16th of an inch, and gradually tapering to nothing as you bring the blade up toward the narrower section of the stalk at the base of the bud. Give the stalk a slight turn and repeat the procedure until you have trimmed it all around. Then remove any small leaves sprouting below the spear’s tip.
Soak the spears for 10 minutes in a basin full of cold water, then wash in 2 or 3 changes of water.
How to cook Choose any pan that can later contain the trimmed spears lying flat. Fill with water and bring it to a boil. Add 1 tablespoon salt for every pound of asparagus, and as the water starts boiling rapidly again, put in the asparagus. Cover the pan to hasten the water’s return to a boil. When it does so, you can uncover the pan. After 10 minutes, you can begin testing the asparagus by prodding the thickest part of the stalk with a fork. It is done when easily pierced. (If very thin and exceptionally fresh, it may take a minute or two less.) Drain immediately when cooked.
Gratinéed Asparagus with Parmesan
For 4 servings
2 pounds fresh asparagus
Salt
An oven-to-table baking dish
Butter for smearing and dotting the dish
⅔ cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
1. Preheat oven to 450°.
2. Trim and boil the asparagus.
3. Smear the bottom of a rectangular or oval baking dish with butter. Place the drained, boiled asparagus in the dish, laying them down side by side in partly overlapping rows, with all the buds pointing in the same direction. The tips of the spears in the top row should overlap the butt ends of the stalks in the row below. Sprinkle each row with salt and grated cheese, and dot with butter, before laying another row on top of it.
4. Bake in the uppermost rack of the preheated oven until a light, golden crust forms on top. Check after 15 minutes’ baking. After taking it out of the oven, allow to settle for a few minutes before serving.
Variation with Fried Eggs
For 4 servings
To the ingredients in the preceding recipe, add:
2 tablespoons butter
4 eggs
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
1. Prepare Gratinéed Asparagus with Parmesan as directed in the recipe above.
2. Take the baking dish out of the oven, and divide the asparagus into 4 portions, putting each on a warm dinner plate.
3. Put the butter in a skillet, turn on the heat to medium high, and as the butter foam begins to subside, break the eggs into the pan and sprinkle with salt. Do not put any more eggs in at one time than will fit without overlapping. If the pan cannot accommodate all of them at once, fry them in two or more batches.
4. Slide a fried egg over each portion of asparagus, then spoon juices from the baking pan over each egg. Sprinkle with pepper and serve at once.
Asparagus and Prosciutto Bundles
For 6 servings
18 choice thick spears fresh asparagus
½ pound Italian fontina cheese, cut into thin slices (see note below)
6 large thin slices of prosciutto
2 tablespoons butter plus more for smearing and dotting a baking dish
An oven-to-table baking dish
Note If you cannot find true imported Italian fontina, rather than substituting bland imitation fontina from other sources, use parmigiano-reggiano cheese shaved into thin, long slivers. If you do so, substitute boiled unsmoked ham for the prosciutto because both Parmesan and prosciutto are salty and the two combined might make the asparagus bundles too salty.
1. Trim and boil the asparagus, cooking it more on the firm than on the soft side.
2. Preheat oven to 400°.
3. Set aside 12 slices of fontina (or 12 long slivers of Parmesan), and divide the rest of the cheese into 6 more or less equal mounds.
4. Spread open