Vegetarian asparagus bake with grilled eggplant
by Tavolino
A Mediterranean-inspired oven dish where tender white asparagus is wrapped in eggplant slices and baked with a creamy chervil béchamel sauce.
Ingredients
- white asparagus 24 stalks
- eggplants 2
- salt to taste
- butter 30 g
- whole wheat spelt flour 2 tbsp
- milk (3.5% fat) 500 ml
- pepper to taste
- nutmeg to taste
- lemon juice 1 tbsp
- chervil 1 bunch
- olive oil 1 tbsp
- vegetarian mountain cheese 100 g
Preparation
- 1
Peel the asparagus and trim off the woody ends.
- 2
Cook the asparagus in boiling salted water for 10 minutes, then drain and set aside.
- 3
Wash the eggplants, slice them lengthwise into 0.5 cm thick slices, sprinkle with salt, and let sit for a short while.
- 4
Melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in the whole wheat spelt flour.
- 5
Pour in the milk while stirring and bring to a boil until a creamy sauce forms.
- 6
Remove the sauce from the heat and season to taste with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and 1 tbsp lemon juice.
- 7
Wash the chervil, shake dry, finely chop, and stir half of it into the sauce.
- 8
Pat the eggplant slices dry and brush with 1 tbsp olive oil.
- 9
Heat a grill pan and sear the eggplant slices over high heat for 1 minute on each side.
- 10
Finely grate the mountain cheese.
- 11
Bundle 3 asparagus stalks together, wrap with an eggplant slice, and place in a baking dish.
- 12
Pour the prepared sauce over the asparagus-eggplant bundles and sprinkle with the mountain cheese.
- 13
Bake in a preheated oven at 200 °C (convection 180 °C) for 15–20 minutes.
- 14
Remove the bake from the oven and garnish with the remaining chervil.