Milanese Asparagus - Asparagi alla Milanese

Though there are a couple of areas in Lombardia where asparagus is grown, for the most part Lombardi are content to let others do the growing and simply cook them. Quite well; Plutarch tells of Julius Caesar's visiting Mediolanum (the Celtic city that became Milano), and being offered asparagus served with butter, rather than the oil the Romans were used to. Caesar greatly enjoyed his Milanese buttered asparagus. To serve 4:

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 3.3 pounds (1.5 k) asparagus
• 4 eggs
• Freshly grated Parmigiano
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Unsalted butter

Preparation:

Scrape the bottoms of the stems of the asparagus, wash them, and tie them into a bunch. Set them in a narrow high sided pot with boiling water sufficient to reach half way up the stems; this way the bases will boil while the tips will steam. Cook them just until a fork penetrates easily -- do not let them get soggy -- and then drain them and arrange them on a serving dish with the tips pointing towards the center of the dish.

Dust them with abundant Parmigiano, and lay over them four eggs fried sunny side up in abundant butter, which should be hot enough to melt the cheese and bind it to the asparagus stocks. You can also omit the eggs, and simply use butter if you prefer.

Yield: 4 servings Milanese asparagus.

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