Baked Asparagus & Carrots Parmesan

My apologies! I completely forgot to photograph the baked vegetables before apportioning them into the plates, but I hope you still get a good idea of how it looks like from the photo above. This is a very easy side dish to prepare; you can prep the veggies and put them into the baking dish ahead of time, then just sprinkle with the cheese when you're ready to bake it. It was a perfect partner for my Veal Piccata with Lemon Caper Sauce (see the recipe on this blog site).


Note:  Blanching and shocking vegetables, especially green ones, allows you to prep them well ahead of time (and saves you hours!), and reduces the possibility of overcooking them because you can add them to any dish you are making at the very last minute, just to heat them through. You will be amazed at how this process turns your green vegetables truly brilliantly green and still with a bit of crunch (instead of being gray, soggy and unpalatable when overcooked).

Ingredients:

1 pound asparagus

1 pound carrots

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, plus additional for the baking dish

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Procedure:

Soak the asparagus in cool water for 10 minutes. Trim the stems and peel the bottom half of each spear. Trim and peel the carrots. Cut them into quarters lengthwise.

Blanch and shock the asparagus and carrots separately (see note below). Pat dry.

Butter a large shallow baking dish. Arrange the asparagus and carrots in the dish in overlapping layers. If not baking immediately, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 5 or 6 hours.

When ready to serve, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Dot the vegetables with the butter and sprinkle with the cheese. Bake until the vegetables are heated through and the cheese is melted, about 15 minutes. Serve immediately. Serves 6.

To blanch & shock vegetables:  Bring salted water to a boil in a large pot; have some iced water in a large bowl on hand. Put the cleaned (or sliced) vegetable into the boiling water and cook for a minute or two (depending on the vegetable); scoop out using a slotted spoon into the bowl of iced water to stop the cooking. Scoop out again into paper towels to drain. Do not overcook.