RECIPES

tempura asparagus with olive aioli

One of my favorite dinners growing up was tempura. My mom let us fry up whatever vegetables we wanted and asparagus was tied with potatoes for my favorite (I have a french fry obsession so hard for tempura potato to share first place, so this is saying a lot)

One of my favorite dinners growing up was tempura. My mom let us fry up whatever vegetables we wanted and asparagus was tied with potatoes for my favorite (I have a french fry obsession so hard for tempura potato to share first place, so this is saying a lot)

Ingredients:

For the Olive Aioli (makes about 1 cup)
1 head garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup blended oil (half olive oil, half vegetable oil)
1/2 cup chopped Nicoise or Kalamata olives

For the asparagus
1 bunch (about 1 pound) pencil asparagus
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup corn starch
1 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup cold soda water
About 1 cup canola or peanut oil
Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 400° F. Cut the head of garlic in half horizontally and place the two halves on aluminum foil, about the size of a piece of paper. Drizzle the tablespoon of olive oil over the garlic and then fold all four sides up and pinch together, making a pouch around the garlic. Put the garlic pouch in the oven and roasted for about 40 minutes, until the cloves are tender and slightly browned. Let the garlic cool and then pop the cloves out of the skin.

Rub the cloves into a paste and transfer to a blender. Add the egg yolk, mustard, and lemon juice and pulse several times to combine the ingredients. With the blender running, add the oil in a slow, steady stream through the lid of the blender. Process until thick and smooth. Transfer to a small mixing bowl and fold in the chopped olives. Set aside or refrigerate until ready to use.

To make the tempura batter, whisk together the flour, corn starch, salt and pepper in a large mixing bowl. Add the soda water, whisking briskly to avoid lumps. Continue whisking until batter is smooth and just slightly thinner than pancake batter.

Heat oil to 375° F in a wide Dutch oven or large sauté pan with high sides. Coat the asparagus in the tempura batter and fry in batches, 6-8 spears at a time, depending on the size of the pot. Take care to not overcrowd the oil with spears, which will drop the oil temperature, resulting in a soggy coating.

Remove the fried spears to a paper towel and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Continue to coat in batter and fry the remainder of the bunch.

Serve the tempura asparagus immediately with the olive aioli.