This Spanish inspired recipe of lightly cooked asparagus served with onions, red peppers and garlic sautéed in lashings of olive oil. I love it as a side with fish or steak, and it works great as a potluck dish.
Asparagus is a fantastic vegetable – full of hormone-balancing nutrients, fibre and antioxidants – and it’s especially lovely in season. It’s also very pretty with its pointy, dragon skin like spears and looks great with bright colours.
Because asparagus itself has a pretty neutral flavour, it’s a great vehicle for sauces and punchier ingredients such as hollandaise, bacon, garlic aioli and so on. I thought it would work really well with slowly cooked onions, peppers and garlic, and the olive oil infused with the flavours of those foods. It’s also known as sofrito and is the base of Spanish paella.
For an even punchier flavour, you can add chopped chorizo or bacon to the cooking mixture. Both work really well with asparagus.
Enjoy this dish warm or cold, and use it as a side with your fish, chicken or meat or as a colourful potluck dish at a dinner party. Leftovers are great in an omelette, by the way.
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PinIngredients
- ½ large onion, finely diced
- 1 long red pepper or round capsicum/bell pepper, finely diced
- 4 tablespoons of olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 garlic clove, finely diced
- 2 bunches of asparagus spears, hard ends chopped off
- Salt
- ½ juice of lemon
Instructions
- Add the onion, peppers, olive oil and salt to a medium frying pan and heat over medium heat. Sauté for 10 minutes, stirring regularly, until the onions and peppers are really soft and slightly caramelized.
- Add the garlic and stir through for a minute, turn the heat off and set aside.
- In the meantime, bring a pot of water to a boil and add the asparagus. Cook for 2 minutes, then strain and set aside.
- Serve the asparagus cold or quickly reheated in the pan, with the onion and pepper mixture spread over the top. This dish can be either hot or cold.
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Love that vibrant sauce on top of the asparagus! And it’s such a great way to get it a lot of veggies in one sitting.
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YAAASSS, full of color and flavor and asparagus is in season!
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I just picked up asparagus for a decent price this weekend and I can’t wait to use it! We won’t see it local here until May, but I just had to get some! I love this idea and I know my kids would too – I think I’ll use it for this! Thank you!
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Oh boy, what a great way to serve asparagus…one of my favorites this time of year!! This is a unique preparation too…I love it!
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Yum! We make something similar and it’s always a hit. Thank you!
That onion, red pepper topping looks so delicious! What a great idea!
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Firstly, I love how colourful this is! And I love asparagus too, so new ways to eat it, especially as it comes into season here soon, are always good!
Yum – those red peppers look delicious!
YUM! They look so flavorful and delicious ! Totally love it !
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I have a bunch of asparagus in the fridge just waiting to make this. Looks so delicious!
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Loving the look of this vibrant and nutritious side!
Um, where did you add the lemon?
Drizzle over at the end, it’s optional. I will clarify in the instructions 🙂