An Asparagus Recipe You'll Pablolly Juant to Make!

The only thing at this very moment more yummy than Juan Pablo from The Bachelor, is this asparagus, leek and pancetta dish that I've been making lately. Well maybe it's not quite as delicious as Juan Pablo, and I know asparagus, leek and pancetta doesn't roll off the tongue quite as sexy as Juan Paaaaablo does, but damn, this is a pretty good dish so I thought I better share it.

For the most part my pantry is pretty well stocked and I usually have all of the ingredients on hand to make about anything from Sesame-Ginger Salmon en Papillote to Mario's Chicken Parmesan, with little or no improvising.  My biggest challenge living here in Hickville is fresh produce, although I do try to keep many of the not-so-weird varieties on hand.
     That being said, the ingredients in this dish are pretty basic...besides the asparagus and leeks, all you will need is some pancetta (you could sub bacon or proscuitto), garlic, pine nuts, lemon and orange zest. Staples.

I happened to have some leeks and asparagus that were itchin' to be used up, when I stumbled across this recipe so I decided to try it, and man oh man (as in Juan Pablo) am I glad I did.
     The recipe calls for pancetta, but on the first go around I  subbed proscuitto. The second time I made it I did use pancetta, but really I think I preferred the proscuitto.

The pancetta added a bit of a greasy factor and although it was still good, I would recommend NOT adding the butter to the pan, like the recipe calls for. Ditto if you use bacon.
     Since there is no grease in proscuitto you need to add a drop of olive oil or butter to the pan before cooking it, and then go ahead and add the tablespoon of butter called for.

Saute it up in a pan until it darkens up a bit and gets all pretty, like Juan Pablo, and then top it with the lemon and orange zest.

Click here, or on the "Side Dishes" tab to get the recipe.

After eating up this yummy dish you will Pablolly never Juant to steam or boil asparagus again. Just sayin'.

PRINT RECIPE:  Asparagus, Leek and Pancetta Saute