I once stood a few feet away from Jacques Pepin at the Aspen Food & Wine Festival. He was talking with a few other chefs and I never had a chance to meet him. The truth is, I am not much of a celebrity worshipper (contradictorily, I love a People magazine now and then) and would not have approached Monsieur Pepin as a stranger just to say hello, get an autograph or say that I admired him. Actually, I did not own any of his cookbooks nor had I watched his shows. But, for some reason, that close encounter made my conscience became friendly with him and when I see him on TV, I muse, “Why, hello again Jacques. You are looking well.” After making this recipe from his Fast Food My Way cookbook last week, I found myself chuckling amiably, ” Oh Jacques… you have done it again.”

There are not many ingredients in this recipe so you must use the best of everything! Each ingredient is delicious and familiar but they seemed a bit of an unusual combination. After tasting the finished recipe, I learned that each item plays an important role in pulling this dish together. The asparagus adds beautiful color and freshness . The almonds surprise with a welcome crunch. There is no doubt that the chorizo is the star of the show - I used a wonderful Spanish chorizo - oh that flavor! And the bread… well, it basically becomes a chorizo sponge. Each little baguette cube was a scrumptious, crunchy, chorizo-flavored morsel.

Asparagus with Croutons and Chorizo
1 lb. asparagus, tough ends removed, bottom 1/2 peeled
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup 3/4inch slices chorizo (4oz.)
1 1/2 cups 3/4 inch bread cubes (baguette or italian)
1/4 cup whole almonds with skins
1/4 t salt
1/2 t pepper

Cut asparagus stalk into 3 or 4 pieces. heat olive oil until very hot. Add asparagus, chorizo, bread, almonds & saute, covered 5-6 minutes tossing the mixture a few times so it browns and cooks all over. Add salt and pepper. Toss again and serve on four warmed plates.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 10th, 2007 at 9:58 pm and is filed under Main Dish. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.