Asparagus with Anchovy Butter

This recipe is from a friend of mine who owns a restaurant in Victoria, BC. Jo Zambri and her brother, Peter Zambri, opened Zambri’s seven years ago. It’s a wonderful restaurant and Peter is an amazingly talented chef. The combination of the brother/sister team plus their attentive and knowledgeable staff make for a pleasurable dining experience and a very successful restaurant. Their zeal for promoting local organic produce has won them many culinary awards. A review by DineHere.ca says it all: “Zambri’s is a no-nonsense casual Italian cafe by day, with daily specials and rustic pastas served cafeteria style. By night Zambri’s is a sophisticated bistro serving old country Italian dishes with an ever changing a la carte menu”.

Serves 4-6
6-8 stalks fresh asparagus
2-3 tablespoon butter
2 (125 ml) salt cured anchovies, chopped
1 garlic clove, sliced
1/2 cup fresh sage leaves
1 tablespoon pinenuts
Pinch of salt
Pinch dried chilies
2 tablespoons Blue cheese
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup Polenta, cooked

Trim asparagus stalks to the same length, cook 3-4 minutes in salted boiling water until cooked but still crispy. Drain on a towel.

Sauce
For the sauce, melt butter in a hot pan. Add anchovies, garlic, sage leaves, pinenuts, chilies and salt. Stir and cook until bubbly.

Firm Polenta
1/2 cup polenta
2 cups water or chicken stock
pinch of salt

Place stock and salt in a large pot. Bring to a boil then slowly add the polenta, stirring occasionally. Cook over medium heat for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and add a tablespoon of butter and about 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese. Stir until butter is melted. On an 8 inch plate, grease with 1 tablespoon of olive oil then pour polenta on top. Smooth to edges of plate and allow polenta to cool to room temperature.

Cut polenta into wedges and place on plates. Arrange asparagus spears on top. Place blue cheese in middle, grated Parmesan on top of blue cheese, then pour hot anchovy sauce over all. Serve immediately.

The Culinary Chase’s Note: This recipe has some of my favorites ingredients! The polenta balances the sharpness of the blue cheese while the sage really defines the sauce for the asparagus. This is a definite repeater! Thanks Peter!