baked asparagus with crunchy crumbs

Refreshing in ice, is a technique often used in cooking to arrest the cooking that continues without rapid chilling. In modern commercial kitchens the advent of the blast freezer has often taken over this task but the traditional ice and water is a method I still prefer for some foods.
Another tip is once you open a tin of the Spanish smoked paprika keep it in the freezer to preserve its freshness….AO 

3 bunches of asparagus — approximately 600g
3 cups of ice
20g sea salt
splash EV olive oil
20g soft butter

for the slather
2 x 61g egg yolks
5g smoked paprika
300g sour cream
1 lemon, finely grated rind and strained juice
2 pinches of Maldon sea salt
black pepper, freshly ground

for the crunch
300g day old ciabatta, processed into coarse crumbs
splash EV olive oil
Maldon sea salt
black pepper, freshly and coarsely ground
100g pecorino cheese, finely grated
handful flat leaf parsley, stalked and coarsely chopped

Snap and scrape the asparagus and set up an ice bath. Blanche the asparagus for 2 minutes in boiling salted water with the splash of oil and then refresh them in the ice bath. Dry them on a clean towel.

Butter an ovenproof dish and lay the asparagus in the dish.    

for the slather
Break the egg yolks into a bowl and whisk them together and then sift in the paprika and whisk in. Add the sour cream, stir through and then mix in the lemon rind and lemon juice and season.

for the crunch
Put the ciabatta, oil, salt and pepper into a wok and toss over until the oil has soaked in to the bread. Cook on medium heat until the crumbs just start to harden up but not colour. Allow to cool completely and then add the cheese and parsley and mix in.

to serve
pre heat oven to 220°C
Spread the slather over the asparagus and then scatter the crunch over the top. You can prepare this two to three hours in advance but do not refrigerate or the cooking time will be out of whack and the crunch will be burned before the asparagus is hot.  Cook for 10 – 15 minutes until the crunch is coloured and the asparagus is very hot.

Serve immediately.

notes
You can prepare this two to three hours in advance but do not refrigerate or the cooking time will be out of whack and the crunch will be burned before the asparagus is hot.

This is delicious straight from the oven but also very good at room temperature.