Cut the cecina into wafer-thin slices, then chop into squares and fry. Then place in extra virgin olive oil to make cecina crisp oil.
Cook the asparagus in boiling salted water with a little sugar. Separate the tips and stalks, the latter to be used to make the sauce and filling for the ravioli. Don’t overboil the tips.
To make the sauce, crush the hardest part of the stems to extract the flavor, add chicken stock and butter and beat until thick. Then add more butter, sprinkle with flour and cook. Add the rest of the asparagus stems and the milk. Add some cecina squares, bring to a boil and let cool.
Finely slice the asparagus tips (leaving some whole to decorate the plate) and cook in the same way as the stems. Once cooked, form a lattice, making square-shaped ravioli, fill with the cooled mixture and close. Heat in a natural coal oven.
Layer the plate with sauce, top with the ravioli and decorate with asparagus tips. Finish with the León cecina crisp oil.
Chef's Remark:
"A typical food combination in León is asparagus with cecina (air-dried meat). This is the idea that inspired this dish, but here it comes in a very personal version–with the local white asparagus from Gavà, south of Barcelona."
Preparation by: Carles Gaig
Pago de Carraovejas 2005 (DO Ribera de Duero), by Bodegas Pago de Carraovejas. This wine with an impressive nose against a balsamic background with ripe fruit and vanilla is flavorsome in the mouth with intense fruitiness, medium structure and creaminess. It is a fine foil to the asparagus and cecina from León ravioli.
