food: asparagus, spaghetti and pineapple

–Dinner party idea or having it nice at home–

Here is an idea featuring courses that complement each other perfectly for a dinner party, with fresh asparagus for the starter, pasta with langoustine for the main and fresh fruit for dessert. Or just something to cook to have it nice at home this weekend. Recipes from the second issue of Home and Delicious. 

Fresh asparagus with butter, egg and parmesan

Spaghetti with langoustine sauce

Grilled pineapple with Nutella-chocolate sauce

Click the read more button down below to read the recipes

Photos Gunnar Sverrisson / Home and Delicious

Fresh asparagus with butter, egg and parmesan

Fresh asparagus, small type about 8-10 pieces per person, large type about 4-6 pieces per person.

Egg, 1 per person

A pinch of butter or good olive oil

Grated parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

Trim the asparagus, you may need to cut off the ends if bruised. Boil for a few minutes in salted water, cooking time will depend on the size of the asparagus. It‘s ready when soft, which is best tested with a sharp knife. Soft boil eggs, so that the yolk is runny. If preferred, you can fry the egg. Dry the asparagus and dish up on to warm plates. Add butter or olive oil over the asparagus, then the egg and finally a generous amount of parmesan. Salt and pepper if you like.

Spaghetti with langoustine sauce

600g cherry tomatoes

1 red chilli, de-seeded and finely sliced

½ Onion or 2 shallots, diced

1 clove of garlic, diced

50g butter

Salt and pepper

1 ½ dl white wine

400g langoustine, shelled and cleaned, sliced into bite sized pieces

1 dl cream

A handful of fresh basil, chopped

Put the tomatoes, chilli, onion, garlic and butter in a pan and heat at a low-medium temperature for approximately 10 minutes or until the onion is soft. Squash the tomatoes in the pan. Salt and Pepper. Pour the wine over top and let it simmer for 5 minutes or until the wine has evaporated.

Boil the spaghetti at this point.

Add cream to the pan and mix together. Put the langoustine into the hot sauce and let it cook for 2-3 minutes or until cooked through.

Mix the sauce in with the spaghetti and add the fresh basil on top before served. Some might wish to add parmesan as well, but it is not to everyone’s taste with fish, so the choice is yours.

Grilled pineapple with Nutella chocolate sauce

1 fresh pineapple, sliced

½ cup nuts of choice, pistachios or hazelnuts are great, chopped.

¼ tsp vanilla essence

1/3 cup mascarpone cheese at room temperature

1/3 cup nutella

3 tbsp cream

Remove skin from pineapple and slice. Remove core. It‘s good at this point to toast the nuts, either on a pan or in the oven. Mix the vanilla essence together with the mascarpone, softening the cheese. It‘s a good trick to let it stand at room temperature before mixing so that it‘s easier. Heat the nutella and cream in a pot at a low temperature. Grill the pineapple slices on a bbq or grill pan until warm through, approximately 3 minutes on each side. Only turn the slices once so that they have apparent lines across them from the grill. Dish up 2 slices of pineapple onto each plate. Drizzle the nutella sauce over top, and then add a spoonful of mascarpone to the centre of the plate with nuts over top. Served hot.