Roasted & Wrapped Asparagus

Here’s the second recipe I “cooked” up for the Friday Foodie Fix on The W.H.O.L.E. Gang blog. I’ve never used Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese before. (I know, you can’t see the cream cheese but it’s in there.) To my surprise it worked remarkably well. The herbs, lemon, and balsamic vinegar provided the edge that was definitely needed to make this recipe work. And, the sun-dried tomatoes just seemed like a perfect accompaniment to the flavors of the asparagus and prosciutto.

This recipe is defintely more savory than the Asparagus Mango Salad but has the same saltiness and variety of flavors.

I think it would be great to use cream cheese or a cream cheese/goat cheese combination if you aren’t avoiding dairy or are avoiding soy. In fact, an easy option would be herbed goat chevre.

This is a very attractive and tasty appetizer to serve to family or friends.

Roasted & Wrapped Asparagus

12-15 asparagus spears
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper

½ cup Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese
1 tablespoon dried basil
½ teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon olive oil
½ teaspoon white balsamic vinegar
about 8 sun-dried tomatoes, diced
salt and pepper

½ pound prosciutto

Preheat the oven to 400° F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment.

Bring the “cream cheese” to room temperature. Mix in the basil, lemon zest, olive oil, vinegar, salt and a generous helping of pepper until thoroughly incorporated. Stir in the diced sun-dried tomatoes. Return the mixture to the refrigerator.

Rinse and trim the asparagus. Place the spears one layer thick on the cookie sheet. Drizzle with a tablespoon of olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper. Roast in the oven for 15 minutes until tender. Remove and cool – about 15-30 minutes.

Now you’ll start to assemble the prosciutto, cheese and asparagus. Take one piece of prosciutto at a time. Trim the top and bottom and any fat from the meat. If the prosciutto piece is large you may be able to get two pieces out of it – each piece need only be about 3 or 4 inches in length.

Take about 1 to 2 teaspoons of the “cheese” mixture and spread it about an inch from the edge along the short end of the prosciutto. Place the asparagus on the cheese and begin wrapping the short end of the prosciutto over the asparagus continuing to the end of the prosciutto. Wrap each of the asparagus spears the same way.

Place the wrapped spears on a serving plate and return to the refrigerator until ready to serve. These can be made any time during the day they are to be served.

PRINT RECIPE