ASPARAGUS CIGARS
This is a great entertaining dish using the best of the season’s fresh asparagus. It’s perfect for when you have people coming over. You can prepare them ahead of time, keep them in the fridge and then pop them in the oven just before you’re ready to serve, so they’re hot and delicious!
Ingredients
1 pack filo pastry
1 bunch asparagus, trimmed
80g pack Farro prosciutto dolce, cut into half length-wise
75g butter, melted
100g Parmigiano Reggiano, finely grated over the cigars (I use a microplane grater)
Sesame seeds to sprinkle
To serve:
Lemon-lime aioli
Method
Heat oven to 180C. Lay out one sheet of filo pastry and brush with butter. Place another sheet of filo on top of the first sheet and brush with butter. Repeat this step until you have 3 sheets on top of each other
Treating the filo pastry like a sheet of A4 paper, place the asparagus spears in a line, butting up next to each other, approx. 3cm from the top. Lay the prosciutto strips over the asparagus. Season with freshly ground pepper. Use the microplane and grate parmesan over the whole sheet of filo
Roll up into a long cigar, brush the top with butter and grate a little more parmesan over the top and sprinkle with sesame seeds
Cut into 4 equal portions
Place the portions on a lined oven tray 2cm apart (or in a container to refrigerate until ready to heat)
Repeat the above steps until you have used up all the filo sheets. It should make around 24 cigars
Place baking tray in the hot oven and bake for approx. 10-12 mins or until golden
Serving suggestion – serve with some lemon and lime aioli for people to dip. Enjoy!
If you want to serve them later, pop the cigars into a sealed container and refrigerate. Bring them out 15 mins before you wish to serve and follow the baking instructions