SALT-FREE ASPARAGUS ROLL
A quick and fresh recipe for these spring days
The idea of the salt-free asparagus roll was born recently, almost by chance but was immediately promoted…
During the lock-down Dave was in charge of going to grocery shopping. Armed with a weekly list, he headed to the supermarket as a knight prepares for the final duel. In one of the 1000 confirmation calls on things to take he said to me: “there are some wonderful bunches of asparagus can we take them?” “Why not?!” I replied “You can take them, it’s the perfect season” as if he had won the duel he returned proudly home with the asparagus that he likes so much.
Instead I started puzzling over what I could prepare with these asparagus… the first ideas were bismark asparagus, asparagus soup, steamed asparagus but none of them however enlightened me… until I began to see something forming in my mind. I didn’t really know what then, as most of the time it happens to me, I started improvising… luckily this time I marked every step because I didn’t want this experiment to end up in the “one shot” list; “What’s the “one shot” list?” It’s my list of those dishes made once and that can no longer be redone in the same way because, taken from the creative flair, I started to create without writing down what and how many ingredients I put and what procedures I performed… d’oh.
This is a simple, fresh and quick recipe to make. Excellent to present as an appetizer or main course in spring lunches with friends and relatives.
Well let’s start with the procedure step by step and at the bottom, as usual, you will find the summary card with all the doses, ingredients, utensils etc that you can always keep with you.
Fasten your apron and let’s go…
PROCEDIMENTO
We put the eggs and some black pepper inside a bowl. With the electronic whips we start whipping everything until we get a frothy and light dough. If you have the mixer you can use it. Run it at medium-low speed using the whip tool and let it all take shape.
Meanwhile, turn on the oven at 356°F (180°C). As soon as the dough is frothy at the right point, turn it all onto a rectangular baking tray lined with some baking paper and bake it for 15 min.
We take out and lay the omelette obtained on a work surface.
Roll everything up with all the baking paper and let it rest.
This step will help us make the baking paper come off by itself from the base of the roll.
Let’s take the asparagus. We cut the bottom and throw it away, then we cut the final part, the slightly more stringy one and we keep it aside for a next recipe* and finally we briefly boil or steam the softer part of the asparagus.
Once our asparagus are ready, we roll out our omelette base, spread the mascarpone cheese and finally lay them alternately on it. We end with a sprinkling of black pepper.
To boil or steam the asparagus you can use the steamer, the thermomix, the microwave, a pot, any method is fine. The cooking time must be a maximum of 10 minutes not more, just the time to soften them but they must not fall apart.
Starting from the short side of the rectangle we roll it all up. Make sure the roll is compact. Once totally rolled up, we can cut it in half or leave it like this according to our need for space in the fridge. We wrap in plastic wrap and leave to rest in the fridge waiting to be served. When the hour approaches, let’s take it out, cut it into slices and lay the slices on a serving plate or directly on the dish for each person.
This recipe is also suitable to be prepared the day before. If you prefer instead of mascarpone you can use homemade ricotta or goat cheese made without salt.
NO WASTE SECRET*
We can put the asparagus bottoms aside in a saucepan, with a little onion, extra virgin olive oil and water. We let them cook until they are softened and then with a immersion blender we blend them. We will have obtained a cream of asparagus without salt that can be used for a lasagna, for a risotto, as a sauce for pasta or for any recipe that comes to mind.
THE VALLÌ’S COOKING FAMILY
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