Asparagus with brown butter, lemon and chopped hazelnuts is a perfect compliment to pretty much any meal. Serve with chicken, fish, pasta and more!
Daniel and I recently experienced an incredible ten course meal for a friend’s birthday and had a phenomenal asparagus dish. As in, it was one of my top favorite courses of that amazing meal. So I, of course, decided to try to make my own version. Also, I associate asparagus with spring and it’s springtime, so I thought this would be a good recipe to share! I mean, I feel sure you could put brown butter on most anything and have a delicious result. This is a great side dish and it seems a little fancy!
You will need: 1 bunch fresh asparagus, 1/3 c. chopped hazelnuts, 1/2 stick butter, and fresh lemon juice.
Cut the ends off the asparagus. I steamed it for about 4 minutes. I wanted it to still be sort of crunchy, but if you want the texture to be softer, then I would suggest steaming for 5-6 minutes. You could also roast it for a few minutes.
The next step is to make brown butter. This is SO SIMPLE. It just takes some patience to watch it pretty closely. All you do is melt a 1/2 stick of butter over medium heat. After it starts to foam, you keep cooking it for about five minutes, swirling it around pretty often. It will turn to this beautiful light brown color and it will start to smell like heaven. The trick is to get it that lovely brown color without burning it.
Put your steamed asparagus into a bowl, pour the brown butter on top, add a splash of fresh lemon juice, and then add the crunchy hazelnuts on top. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Here’s the finished product. It is absolutely delicious and pretty close to the dish I had that I was trying to duplicate. You should try it!
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