Asparagus season is full bloom! Aside from all the nutritional value, asparagus is beautiful and the perfect way to celebrate the blooming of spring and end of winter (I’m over it). My go to way to serve asparagus is to just use a lil olive oil, salt, pep, and roast them, sometimes, though you may just want to make something a little more special without a bunch of time consuming prep work…here in Portland, when the sun shines you get out in it as much as you can! Well yesterday was “meatless” Monday so totally inspired by a flat bread that I had at New Seasons market, I decided to make my own version. I usually don’t drive during the week so I walked down to the Wholefoods and picked up some ingredients. I love the fresh made whole wheat pizza crust at Wholefoods, it has five ingredients, and it’s delicious and a bargain at $3! Honestly, it’s made in house and knowing that it’s made with good ingredients makes it a great short cut and saves me a load of mess and time, some pizza joints will sell you dough, or of course you can make your own…but avoid anything that pops in tube….full o’ nasties. I got some asparagus from Cali at the grocery outlet for 99cents on Sunday (that place is a goldmine!) and I had some Spanish Marcona almonds, pecorino, olive oil, and red pepper flakes at home.
Preheat oven to 450.
Roll out your dough into a rectangle, or the shape you like, you can even make individual flatbread if you so choose. Brush the dough with some olive oil, add asparagus (raw), almonds (press them into the dough), sprinkle with pecorino or parm (I like the tang and saltiness of the sheep milk pecorino, it’s a romano cheese and I think you can use a lot less and get a lot more flavor, add fresh ground pepper and throw it in the oven for about 15 minutes or until golden. When it done use some citrus zest to add a punch of freshness! Seriously who knew almonds and asparagus were so delicious together? Easily made vegan friendly without the cheese and still delicious! It will look like you slaved away in the kitchen, does anyone remember that rice crispy treat commercial from the nineties, where the mom put a bunch of flour on her face so it looked like she had been slaving over the no bake treat? Kinda like that but way better! Enjoy!
Eat, Drink, and be local! A unconventional food blog!