Ah, Italy. Can you think of any other place that devotes several weeks each year to the celebration of a vegetable?
That’s what happens in the small northern Italian town of Bassano del Grappa, home also to the potent brandy-like spirit grappa. Every April and stretching into May, the locals harvest the long-awaited asparagus spears cultivated with care by local farmers. Especially prized is the white asparagus, which is grown underground and carefully protected from the light of day to keep its white color.
Restaurant owners gather in an ancient villa where chefs experiment with new asparagus recipes and even serve dinners with all asparagus menus. Celebrations and music festivals go on for weeks. What do you think? How about having an asparagus festival along the river this year instead of Artsfest? Probably not.
My dear mother, Rose, was a person who eagerly awaited the arrival of spring. It brought her such joy: the season’s first robin who paid a visit to her back porch (she insisted it was the same one every year), the little buds on the trees and the purple crocuses by her front door. Spring meant fresh vegetables as well, and it is safe to say, Rose had her own asparagus festival.
Every week at the farmers market, she would examine the asparagus stalks offered by the vendors and always ask the same question: “Is it homegrown yet?” By homegrown, she meant locally grown rather than shipped from sunny Florida or California and, to her, homegrown asparagus was the best. She carefully chose the very skinny asparagus stalks, which were my father’s favorite. It is the tender thin asparagus that most resembles the wild variety growing in the northern Italian hills.
Italians put asparagus in everything. It has a place of honor at the Easter table and graces dishes from pasta and eggs to soups and chicken. I often sprinkle the stalks with olive oil, salt, pepper and breadcrumbs and bake them in a 350-degree oven for about 30 minutes. Made this way, asparagus takes on a sweet, roasted flavor. Another favorite preparation is slicing the stalks at an angle and sautéing them with olive oil and red pepper flakes. And, in the summer, we grill them until they are slightly charred. There’s asparagus lasagna and cold asparagus soup for a spring brunch. Scrambled eggs with asparagus and Parmesan cheese can be a light but elegant dinner. Or you can chill cooked stalks and wrap them in slices of rosy prosciutto for a first course. Asparagus works in stir-fries, too.
The recipe that follows is an elegant entree for an April dinner and is easily doubled or tripled for entertaining. It combines much-loved Italian ingredients: chicken, asparagus and Marsala wine. Pair it with rice of any kind and a nice chilled white wine.
Involtini di Petti di Pollo
- Take 4 boneless chicken breasts and pound them between 2 sheets of wax paper until thin.
- Season the cutlets with a little salt and pepper.
- Place a slice of ham or prosciutto on each cutlet followed by a slice of bel paese cheese. This is a wonderful soft Italian cheese for which you can substitute fontina.
- Roll each cutlet into a little “log,” tying each with a little kitchen twine to keep it together.
- Dust each chicken roll with a little flour. (I like Wondra for its lightness.)
- Melt 1 tablespoon olive oil and 2 tablespoons unsalted butter in a skillet and brown the chicken rolls on all sides. Use medium-low heat and turn the rolls frequently. The chicken should be thoroughly cooked (about 15 minutes).
- Remove the chicken and keep it warm while preparing the sauce.
- Add 1 additional tablespoon of butter along with ¼ cup chicken stock and ½ cup Marsala wine to the skillet. Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer for 3 minutes, scraping the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. The sauce should thicken a bit.
- Place the chicken rolls on a pretty serving dish and place cooked asparagus spears on top and all around. You can sprinkle with a little grated cheese, if you like.
The days are getting longer at last, and I think I saw my mother’s robin the other day. Food for me is many things. One of them is a way to celebrate the seasons. There likely will be no asparagus festival along the Susquehanna this year. So have one in your kitchen.
