Plate to Plate

As we approach the end of May it seems important to point out that you should perhaps high-tail it over to your local farmers’ market and secure yourself a bundle of asparagus before it — gasp! — goes out of season.

No, I insist. I’ll wait.

While you’re out, you might as well swing by the little Italian deli you’re always passing. You know the one: it’s got an old fashioned hand painted sign above the door, cured meats hanging in the window, a fat black cat sunning itself on the sidewalk outside, and, out at the end of the block, those two grizzled old men in tweed driving caps perched on aluminum folding chairs.

Okay, this deli exists in my mind only — and perhaps in some lost stretches of western Brooklyn — but surely there’s somewhere you can go to get your hands on some Italian cured meats, specifically speck, the aged smoked ham from the Alto Adige region of Italy. And if you can’t find speck, prosciutto should do the trick. Thinly sliced, please.

When you’re back home, preheat the oven to 425 and wash and trim the asparagus. Wrap the very bottom of each asparagus spear in a paper-thin slice of speck and arrange it in a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil, sea salt, and pepper. (A little lemon zest is nice, too.) Bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until the asparagus is just done and the speck is slightly crispy.

Heap the glistening spears on a nice platter, bring the whole thing outside, pour yourself — and your friends, because as much as you’d like to eat all the asparagus yourself, it’s so much nicer to share them — a glass of wine, and relax in the sunshine. It’s almost summer, after all.

Original recipe inspiration via The CSA Chef.