I love asparagus wrapped in parma ham, so thought I'd try the combination in a frittata. It's become a favourite of ours, but is also lovely as a vegetarian dish if you omit the parma ham.
I use a 28 cm heavy bottomed oven proof pan, so note that cooking times will vary if you are using a different size pan.
2-3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 large white onion
250g asparagus (not too thick)
100g cheddar
3 slices of parma ham
6 large eggs
2 tablespoons of milk
Seasoning
- Pre-heat the oven to 180°C
- Finely dice the onion.
- Remove the woody ends of the asparagus.
- Cut the asparagus so that the tips are in lengths slightly less than half the size of the pan (as per the 2nd image).
- Cut the remaining asparagus into smaller pieces.
- Grate the cheese.
- Cut the parma ham into 2 cm slices.
- Whisk the eggs, milk and seasoning.
- Bring a pan of water to the boil and blanch the asparagus for 1-2 minutes, depending on the thickness of the spears. Remove from the pan, drain and set aside, separating the long tip pieces from the smaller chunks.
- Heat the oil in a heavy based, ovenproof pan and saute the onion over a low heat until translucent.
- Using the back of a wooden spoon, spread the onion evenly (or as well as you can!) over the bottom of the pan.
- Whisk the eggs again, add half the grated cheese and whisk one final time before pouring the mixture over the onion.
- Scatter over the smaller asparagus pieces and then lay the longer pieces into the pan in a wheel pattern (as shown in the first image).
- Carefully place individual pieces of parma ham between the longer pieces of asparagus.
- Scatter over the remaining cheese.
- Cook over a higher heat for a couple of minutes and then place in the hot oven for 20 minutes, until golden and risen.
