Spring signals its arrival with warmer weather, longer days and the elegant and distinctive
tasting asparagus.
You would be surprised how many people love asparagus and yet never cook with it.
Nonna cooks up a wide range of tasty and simple asparagas dishes with my favorite being her frittata di asparagi. I love the simplicity of flavours and softness of texture. You must serve it with quality bread - lots of it and some extra chuncks of Grana Padano cheese on the side - just in case!
It is also delicious served at room temperture in slices as an antipasto.
There are many different recipes out there - and all equally as good. The golden rule, as always is to use quality ingredients ; fresh asparagus, local olive oil and no compromising on cheese.
Give Nonna's recipe a go- it's easy and soooo good!
Ingredients Serves 3/4
Eggs 6 medium
Asparagus fresh 800g
Grana Padano Cheese 3 tbs grated
Parsely flat leaf 1 tbs finely chopped
Extra virgin olive oil 6 tbs
Salt/pepper
1. Preparing the asparagus
You can roast, grill or blanch the aspragus. Nonna tends to do the latter. Blanching is super easy.
Firstly trim the bottom of the spears if they are hard. Bring a pot of salted water to boil.The pot should be large enough to allow the asparagus to fit whole. Allow the asparagus to boil for no more than 3 minutes. Remove, drain and allow to cool before cutting into 2 cm pieces.
2. Preparing the egg mixture
In a large bowl, beat eggs and add all the ingredients except the oil. If you want to add more cheese - don't hold back.
Then heat oil in semi deep fry pan and pour in egg mixture. Control heat to prevent bottom from burning. I use a spatula and lift side of omelette to help even cooking.
This process takes time and patience.
After 5 minutes or so when you feel the bottom half of omlette is cooked you need to flip omlette. You can do it using a large spatula. I place a flat plate over the pan, turn the pan upside down so the uncooked side is on the bottom and then slide the omlette back into the pan. Continue to cook for a few more minutes, always controlling the heat.
Serve warm with crusty bread as a main meal or as an antipasto.
Buon appetito a tutti.