Panfried Chicken and Asparagus

During the asparagus season (June), hubby and I went to a nearby farm and bought kilos of asparagus that were just harvested minutes before. Below is one of the dishes we made highlighting this great tasting vegetable.

In the Netherlands, white asparagus is what’s predominant. The color is due to the fact that the asparagus is grown covered in soil, which prevents photosynthesis (which makes them green). Growing up in Asia, I’m actually more used to seeing green asparagus but I’ve come to love white asparagus now as well. They are bigger and tend to be a lot sweeter than their above-the-soil green counterparts.

Here are a few tips when dealing with asparagus:

1. To keep asparagus fresher for a longer period of time, cut of a bit of the bottom, and place them upright in a glass that has about 3 inches of cold water in it. Place the asparagus in the refrigerator.
2. If you intend to cook the asparagus the following day, then simply wrapping them in newspaper and putting them on the vegetable chiller compartment of your refrigerator will do.
3. The bottom part of the asparagus can be a bit tough. To know where to cut off the tough part, just hold the middle part of the vegetable with your left hand and bottom tip with your right hand and bend the asparagus. It will break off at the exact point where it should!
4. There are asparagus pots you can buy where the asparagus is cooked in an upright position but I cook mine in big pan with great results too.

Now, on to today’s dish!

Ingredients:

1 kilo white asparagus
2 hard-boiled eggs
3-5 ham slices

2 chicken breast fillets
dried parsley
salt and pepper to taste
butter for frying

Procedure:

1. Place a chicken breast between two sheets of cling film and pound it using a meat mallet to your desired thinness. (Do the same for the other fillet.)
2. Season the chicken with salt, pepper and dried parsley. Set aside.



3. Get rid of the tough parts of the asparagus and peel off the stalks so that the top and bottom parts are – more or less – of equal width.


Hubby peeling the asparagus.

4. Steam the asparagus for about 15 minutes. (White asparagus are a lot thicker than the green ones so if you’re using the latter, steam for just about 5 minutes.)
5. While the asparagus is steaming, boil the eggs. (I’m using an electric egg cooker. Makes perfect boiled eggs every time!)



6. In the meantime, heat up some butter and pan fry the chicken breasts.



Serve the pan-fried chicken breasts with the plate of asparagus spears, which has been garnished with hard-boiled eggs and rolled-up cold cuts.

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