One of the very few parts of the COVID-19 pandemic I enjoyed was watching newly produced content that was done in a creative and safe way. Prime example was Selena + Chef where Selena Gomez cooked with some of the most iconic chefs in the industry. I’ve always loved Nancy Silverton… I mean, who doesn’t? She’s a legend. I loved when Sel + Nan cooked together and everything went disastrously for Selena, including a broken gas line, food that refused to cook, but especially when spring asparagus roasted in parchment caught on fire.
Thankfully, Nancy Silverton’s recipe (which I slightly modified) didn’t catch on fire for me (after countless times making it). Spears of asparagus, coated in olive oil, butter, salt, pepper, and some mint tossed in for good measure… all wrapped up in parchment and roasted/steamed is one of the most perfect preparations of veggies I’ve EVER had.
Ingredients
- 1 pound pencil-thin asparagus
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1.5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 2 fresh mint sprigs
- 1/2 tsp flaky sea salt, such as Maldon flake salt or fleur de sel
- Fresh coarsely ground black pepper
- A chunk of Parmesan for grating
Instructions
Adjust the oven rack to the center position and preheat the oven to 450°F.
Lay a large piece of parchment (if you have the pre-cut size that go on baking sheets, perfect, otherwise you want a piece about 13-×18-inch) on a half sheet pan.
Lay the asparagus lengthwise in the center of the paper. Drizzle with the olive oil, sprinkle the kosher salt, and scatter the butter cubes over the spears and lay the mint sprigs on top.
Bring the top and bottom edges of the paper together and fold them over tightly to seal closed. Fold the sides inward like you are wrapping a burrito. Yay! You’re done with the hard work.
Place the asparagus packages on a sheet pan (or large baking sheet) and roast for about 10 minutes, until the paper is golden brown and the butter is bubbling out of the package.
Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let the package cool for 1 minute on the baking sheet.
To serve, lay the package on a large serving platter, then carefully open the parchment, and peel it back—be careful, there WILL be steam that escapes and can be hot. Remove and discard the mint sprigs.
Sprinkle the flaked salt on top of the open package, grind some fresh cracked black pepper, and give it a healthy dusting of Parmesan.
Delicately grab a spear of asparagus and chomp down!
Note:
- PLEASE! Be careful opening the parchment. So much steam.
- If you have thicker asparagus, it will take longer to roast.
- The OG recipe calls for dividing the asparagus into two parchment parcels that results in more of a roasted flavor—while Nancy can do no wrong, I rather like my variation where some of the asparagus crisps and roasts, but a lot of it steams.
