May Blog

The days that most midwesterners look forward to are here! When the sun shines brighter, hotter, and a few hours later than just a few months before. When the grass grows long enough to need to be mowed and we start planting all of those gardens that we dreamed up when the sky grew dark early and there was still frost in the air.

Asparagus is one of the vegetables that first makes its way to our table. And of course there are endless ways that we can take full advantage of this beautiful green vegetable. If you choose to keep it raw and use it to top a salad for a little crunch, saute it in olive oil, salt and pepper, or cook it in a pasta dish or quiche, you can’t go wrong. I personally have and will do all of these things with the asparagus I have picked up so far!

I wanted to share a quick and easy recipe that looks lovely and tastes even better! As always, I use a recipe loosely and am always open to getting creative when I am in the kitchen. Buying puff pastry is a personal time saver for me. But, feel free to make your own if that is something you like to do.

Preheat the oven to 400

Ingredients:

2 sheets of thawed puff pastry

1 Bunch thawed asparagus

6 oz Parmesan cheese

7 eggs (1 for egg wash)

Chives for garnish

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roll out and slice Puff Pastry into 6 rectangles. Brush with egg wash and cook in oven for 10-13 minutes or until toasty brown.

After Pastry Puff is cool in about 10 minutes cut out rectangle in middle leaving a border around and a layer of puff on bottom. Sprinkle half of the cheese into the middle of each rectangle. Next, decide if you would like to use the remaining 6 eggs scrambled or crack each in the middle keeping yoke in tact, arrange asparagus around inner boarder, sprinkle with salt and pepper plus remaining cheese.

Place back in the oven for approximately 10 minutes or until cooked through.

Remove from the oven and garnish with chives and enjoy!

Anna Martinez, Farm to Chef Coordinator