Parmesan asparagus pastry twists are cool looking appetizers ready in less than 30 minutes. Wrap asparagus in puff pastry, sprinkled with parmesan, bake and enjoy!
Rinse the asparagus under running water. Cut the hard pale ends off(about 2 inch/5 centimeter). Place the trimmed asparagus spears in a bowl wide enough so they fit in. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss them around or mix with your hands to make sure they are evenly coated.
Unfold/unroll the puff pastry sheet. Cut it into about ½ inch (1.5 centimeters) strips wide. The length will depend on the length of the spears. Take a strip and wrap it around the asparagus spear, leaving some free space in between. Leave the tip free.
Place this onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Repeat until you are done. Crack the egg into a bowl and beat it to make an egg wash. Brush each asparagus twist with the egg wash (the pastry parts) and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F/200°C for 10 minutes or until the pastry is puffed and golden brown.
Serve them warm on their own or with a dip of your choice.
Notes
Try to avoid buying very thick asparagus spears. Ideally, they should be thicker than a pencil and thinner than your thumb.
I used pre-rolled chilled rectangular puff pastry. This was a 10-ounce (275 grams) sheet with dimensions: 14x10 inches (36x26 centimeters). Now don’t worry if you don’t have the same weight or shape of the pastry. As long as you can cut strips out of it, you are good to go.
The amount of pastry you use can vary. This will depend on how thick or long you cut it, also how thick your asparagus spears are. To make 24 twists I used about ⅔ of the pastry.
Parmesan cheese can be substituted with Grana Padano or Pecorino cheese. Pecorino is quite salty so don’t over-season your asparagus.