Honestly, this lovely recipe was one of those spur-of-the-moment, throw together what you have in the fridge and pantry sort of deals. We got a lovely bunch of local green asparagus from our CSA last week, and wanting to make something colorful and fresh, I decided to cut the asparagus and roast it, along with a few cherry tomatoes, artichoke hearts from the pantry, and cubed pancetta. Thinking it could use a tiny bit of crunch, I topped it all from the oven with a mixture of crispy Panko breadcrumbs and finely chopped basil from the herb garden. I love when things come together so easily…and so well!
(To view this recipe, click on the blue title of the blog post above*)
Asparagus & Artichoke Bake with Pancetta & Basil Breadcrumbs
Ingredients:
- 1 bunch of asparagus, woody ends trimmed, stalks cut into 1 ½-inch pieces
- ½ cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 cup artichoke hearts, drained and patted dry
- ¼ cup cubed pancetta
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- ½ cup Panko breadcrumbs
- ¼ cup fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Arrange the cut asparagus, tomatoes, artichokes and pancetta in a single layer on the baking sheet. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 18-20 minutes, or until pancetta is crisp and the veggies tender.
- In the meantime, stir together the breadcrumbs and basil in a small mixing bowl. Remove the cooked dish from the oven and sprinkle with the breadcrumb mixture. Serve warm.
Tagged: artichoke hearts, basil, basil breadcrumbs, cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, pancetta, panko, roasted vegetables, side dish
Hey Anna!
Unrelated to this post (except that it’s tied to your creative genius…), but do you have any suggestions for alternative flavoring for gravlax? I pretty much can’t stand the flavor of dill unless it’s mixed in with some kind of pickle. But we have a freezer full of sustainably caught salmon from a fisherman we like out here and I’m trying to think of some new ways to use it (side note: food52 has a recipe for cinnamon and chile seared salmon that is absolutely fantastic and different). Saw the recipe below and want to give it a shot but don’t know what I might do instead of dill that will complement the salmon flavor. Thoughts?
http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/04/how-to-make-gravlax-cured-salmon.html
Hey Lexie! Oh how I am jealous of your freezer full of salmon! I’m not kidding when I say that I could eat salmon every day and not get sick of it. (For dinner last night I made a cook recipe for a Salmon Nicoise salad which was fantastic; a traditional French salad with potatoes, green beans, olives and capers but instead of tuna, a salmon filet.) But to your gravalax question which really got my wheels turning, I found a few really cool ideas that you might want to try. Sort of along the lines of the cinnamon-chile combo you mentioned, I love combining a touch of brown sugar, cumin and chili powder on seared or grilled salmon. That might be a starting point. Next I searched on Martha Stewart’s website and she had some super ideas (of course). The first you might give some thought to is the Citrus-Cured Salmon on that website; looks like a combo of salt, sugar and lemon/lime/orange zest–yummy! There was also a recipe on her site for a brown sugar-cured salmon. Simple but I bet it is lovely on Irish soda bread or any brown bread.
Next I thought of looking on NPR.com on The Splendid Table website; I love Lynne Rossetto Kasper. There was an interesting recipe for an Aquavit-Cured Salmon with a Mustard Sauce. Aquavit is a Scandanavian liquor similar to gin I think, so that could be a cool idea. Which then I thought, why not use gin or vodka instead with that recipe?
The last two ideas I searched for was with juniper berries, the flavor found in gin. (http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/8989-juniper-flavored-gravlax) In any of the recipes you search for, since you don’t like dill, sub in any ‘soft’ green herb; I love tarragon, so I would try that, or maybe even fennel fronds instead of dill?
The last recipe I found that looks AMAZING was a beet-cured salmon with horseradish and herbs (http://portandfin.com/beet-cured-salmon-with-dill-tarragon-fresh-horseradish/) Again, you can omit the dill and just do the tarragon I think. But this one looks so cool with the red hue from the beets.
Thanks for your comment and question, it was a lovely topic to research and really got me thinking! I may have to experiment with some of these ideas myself…
Hope y’all are doing well. See you soon!
Anna
Wow–you are a speed demon with the research! Thank you so much; I feel like there are a lot of things I might try now 🙂 I happen to have both juniper berries and beets at home, so I may start with either of those ideas. And tarragon is an herb I like but often forget and it seems like it would fit the bill nicely for a substitution for dill so thanks for that idea!
You caught me while I was online updating my blog, so perfect timing!
Let me know how they turn out…I bet combining the juniper berries, beets and tarragon would be a grand combination….
Anna