Spargel with Prosciutto and Raclette

This recipe is brought to you by the Swiss Embassy, Swiss Culture from Home, early June 2023:

June is also Spargelzeit (asparagus season), a pretty big deal in Switzerland, so we’re sharing one way to prepare and enjoy asparagus the way the residents of the Swiss Canton of Valais do.

It’s quite common to serve your asparagus with ham, but the Valaisans serve their stalks with local air-dried country ham, tossing in tomatoes and some raclette cheese for good measure. If you don’t have Valais country ham and raclette cheese at home, don’t worry! Similar dried meats such as prosciutto and basically any hard cheese work as well.  

You will need:

 2 ¼ lbs.           asparagus
¼ lbs.              Valais country ham or other dried ham, cut in strips
½ lbs.              raclette or other hard cheese, grated
3                      tomatoes, sliced
pepper

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 400° F.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
3. Snap the woody ends off the asparagus and trim away any hard bits. Briefly blanch them in the water for about 3-4 minutes, until they turn deep green and have softened, but still retain a bit of bite (timing will depending on how thick they are).
4. Remove from the water and place them at the bottom of a large casserole dish, covering with the ham, then tomatoes, and topping with cheese.
5. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until the cheese is melted to your liking.
6. Add pepper to taste.

Enjoy!

Here the link to the original recipe: https://www.helvetickitchen.com/recipes/spargel-nach-walliser-art