Cheese with asparagus tips and quail eggs

Step 1

In a large saucepan, sauté the onion sliced julienne-style in the olive oil. Once the onion has softened, add asparagus tips, cut in half lengthwise. Cook for about 2 to 3 minutes and adjust salt and pepper. Let cool.

Step 2

Cut the Montasio into ¼ inch round slices. Place the first disk of cheese in the center of a non-stick pan. Add the vegetables from the other pan and then cover them with a second slice of cheese.

Step 3

Let the cheese melt slightly, then quickly flip it over and let the other side melt slightly. Then remove from the heat.

Step 4

Place the cheese and asparagus at the center of the serving dish. Place hard-boiled quail eggs on top and garnish with the remaining asparagus tips.

Chef's tips

The  Montasio cheese used should be aged 5/6 months and should have a soft texture. The asparagus tips and quail eggs give this recipe a very distinctive flavor.

Food History

The history of cheese, which dates back thousands of years, is closely tied to the history of man. Cheese was most likely created when the first human beings began to eat and preserve animal milk. People realized that milk stored in sheep-skin bags quickly turned into a completely different substance, easy to conserve and transport.
From that moment forward, man has continued to experiment with different ways to make cheese, resulting in a wide-variety of products. In fact, every region in Italy has its own local cheeses.
Montasio, for example, is produced in Friuli Venezia Giulia and in parts of the Veneto region. This firm cheese made from cow’s milk was produced for the first time in the 13th century by monks in the abbey of Moggio, located in high plain of Montasio. The cheese then spread throughout the nearby areas, making Montasio one of the more well-known products of the region.

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• Asparagus with hard-boiled egg sauce 
• Risotto with asparagus 
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