Dinner Tonight: Asparagus with Fried Egg and Parmesan
I’ve been listening to and enjoying KCRW’s Good Food for a while now. But I’ve really been enjoying their new segment on trying to teach producer Bob Carlson how to cook. Even though he works on a food show, he’s not much of a cook, so every week host Evan Kleiman gives him a dead-simple recipe and makes him go home and cook it. He reports back every week with the results.
I enjoy the segments so much because the recipes are incredibly simple and most sound genuinely delicious. That’s where I picked up this Asparagus with Fried Egg and Parmesan. There’s nothing really that revolutionary about the method or the combination of fried egg and roasted asparagus. But it is simple and completely rewarding. Once broken, the yolk drips over each stalk, creating a wonderful impromptu sauce. It’s a luscious dish perfect for the novice—or anyone excited about asparagus season.
Asparagus with Fried Egg and Parmesan
- serves 2 -
Ingredients
1/2 pound asparagus, trimmed and rinsed
1 egg
salt and pepper
parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 tablespoon butter
Procedure
1. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Spread the trimmed asparagus in a large roasting pan big enough to hold them all in one layer. Drizzle on about a tablespoon or two of olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Coat each spear in the oil by rolling them around in the pan. Set in the oven for 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, fry an egg sunny side up. Place about a 1/2 tablespoon of butter in a small pan, turn the heat to medium. When the butter is melted, gently crack an egg in. Cover and cook until whites have set.
3. Remove asparagus pan from oven. Transfer the spears to a plate. Carefully slide the fried egg on top. Sprinkle with grated parmesan and season to taste with salt and pepper.
View other entries from Dinner Tonight.
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
12 Comments:
And then the novice can graduate to poached eggs instead and discover a whole new variety of heaven. :-)
Matcha at 4:45PM on 04/14/08
Oh, that is a good idea.
Nick Kindelsperger at 4:57PM on 04/14/08
Three years ago I watched Nigella Lawson dip raw asparagus into the yolks of 3 minute eggs and fell in love. This brings things into another level I can't wait to try.
bessfour at 8:49PM on 04/14/08
I never thought of egg yolks as "sauce", but of course it is and delicious.
PerkyMac at 12:10AM on 04/15/08
We usually have this with a poached egg, and I must say it is fantastic! Its one of our favorite "Sunday with the paper" meals.
TheManchesterKitchen at 7:15AM on 04/15/08
I put the asparagus under the broiler for about 5 minutes. It saves having to heat the oven to 500° and I love the brown crispy parts.
dsquare at 8:55AM on 04/15/08
In the world of food trends...fried/poached eggs are the new bacon! They are the new 'hot' item to enhance almost any dish and I can't seem to go a day of food blog surfing without seeing a new recipe using it. Just yesterday, Metrocurean even had a deep fried poached egg...which just might have to become my new favorite sin.
AddiE at 9:41AM on 04/15/08
one of my favorite breakfasts is cheese enchiladas with a couple of sunnyside-up eggs on top. of course, i live in the land of tex-mex, so this is pretty easy to procure in just about any mexican restaurant, even when it is not on the menu.
carriebwc at 10:29AM on 04/15/08
serves 2 with 1 egg? somebody forgot something somewhere!
mbw1024 at 11:36AM on 04/15/08
I think my most common weeknight dinner is a roasted vegetable (last night it was brussel sprouts) and either a fried or poached egg. My non-adventurous -eating roommate has learned what a poached egg is through my dinners. "Wait, you just put it in water? Like pasta?"
LizNYC at 2:17PM on 04/15/08
mbw1024: As a side dish, it served two people pretty well. This could have been because of our rather filliing main course, though.
Nick Kindelsperger at 8:37PM on 04/15/08
the taste was lovely, but the texture of the asparagus held this back... the egg is so easy to cut with a knife and fork, but the asparagus was stringy and required wrist work to severe. is there a trick to getting the asparagus crispy enough so that it's easy to get equal bits of veggie and egg with each forkful?
prole at 11:01PM on 10/27/08