roasted asparagus with rosemary and anchovies wrapped in pancetta

method

Preheat the oven to 425oF. Remove the stalk ends of the asparagus by bending them and snapping where it clicks naturally. Feel free to boil your asparagus for a minute if they’re not as tender as they should be. Grab 6 spears of asparagus, sandwich one of the rosemary sprigs and one of the anchovy fillets among the spears, and wrap a slice of pancetta round the middle to hold everything in place. Make 3 more bundles the same way, and put them into a small roasting pan with V a lemon. Drizzle with a little olive oil and roast in the preheated oven for 4–5 minutes, until the pancetta is crispy. Remove from the oven, add your butter, and squeeze over the juice of your roasted lemon. Season if need be. This will make a fantastic smoky sauce with your melted anchovies—absolutely scrumptious.

serves: 4

ingredients

• 24 medium-sized spears of asparagus

• 4 sprigs of fresh rosemary

• 4 anchovy fillets

• 4 good slices of pancetta or bacon

• 1/2 a lemon

• olive oil

• 1 pat of butter

• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper