ROASTED ASPARAGUS BRUSCHETTA

"My favorite way to cook asparagus is to roast it at high heat, which caramelizes and concentrates its flavor. After it's been roasted, asparagus dresses up very easily. Here I have put it on grilled bread, tossed it with a little balsamic vinegar and white truffle oil, and finished it with some shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano. Simple as it is, people go crazy for this hors d'oeuvre. You can grill the bread and roast the asparagus a day ahead. Just don't toss it with the vinegar and truffle oil until the last minute."

1 pound medium asparagus spears
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Six 1/3-inch-thick slices rustic country bread, cut from a 6-inch-high loaf
1 garlic clove, halved
1/4 pound Parmigiano-Reggiano
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons white truffle oil*

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Break off the tough ends of the asparagus and discard. Peel the stalks of the asparagus halfway up the length and arrange in one flat layer over the bottom of a roasting pan or baking sheet. Drizzle on the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast on the middle rack of the oven until just tender, about 10 minutes. Cool and cut in half crosswise.

Prepare a charcoal fire. When the flames have died down and the coals are glowing, place the grill 3 to 4 inches from the source of heat. Alternatively, preheat a grill pan over medium-high heat until very hot. Grill the bread until lightly toasted, turning often. Rub one side of each slice with the cut garlic clove while hot.

Using a swivel-bladed peeler, shave large paper-thin slices of cheese off the wedge, making enough cheese slices to cover the 6 slices of bread. (Reserve any remaining cheese for another use.) Cover the bread with the cheese. Toss the asparagus with the vinegar and half the truffle oil. Season with salt and pepper. Top each slice of bread with asparagus, mounding it in the center. Drizzle with the remaining truffle oil and serve at room temperature.

ROASTING VEGETABLES:
My preferred way to cook almost any vegetable is to roast it at high heat. You just have to cut it down to size before you put it in the oven so it will cook properly. Other vegetables that work well besides asparagus are broccoli and cauliflower (cut into 1-inch florets), carrot sticks or baby carrots, and green beans. The drill is the same for all of them: preheat the oven to 450 degrees F, arrange the vegetables in one layer, lightly drizzle with oil, add salt and pepper to taste, and roast for 10 minutes or until just cooked through and caramelized. If you want to cut way back on fat, just spray them with one of those vegetable oil sprays. This is a very satisfying recipe for dieters.

TRUFFLE FLAVOR:
There are many truffle products out there besides the very expensive whole fresh item. You can find truffles canned, frozen, in peelings, powdered, in butter, and in oil. It is fun to play around with all of these more affordable versions of the whole truffle, but my favorite is truffle oil. The best stuff is made by soaking truffles in olive oil. It keeps well on the door of the fridge for quite a while. A little goes a long way.

*Available at specialty food shops or see Mail Order Sources.

Serves 6
Excerpted from Sara Moulton Cooks at Home by Sara Moulton
Copyright © 2002 by Sara Moulton. Excerpted by permission of Broadway, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.