You will need: Fireclay stones
Top heat: approx. 220-250°C
Preheating: approx. 30 minutes
Working hours: 20 minutes
Baking: ca. 15-20 minutes

Ingredients (for 6 starter bowls)

• 250 g green asparagus
• Sugar, salt
• Olive oil
• Juice of 1 lemon
• a few sprigs of fresh thyme (e.g. lemon thyme)
• 2 packs of puff pastry from the chiller cabinet
• 1 egg
• 12 medium-sized strawberries, quartered
• 6-8 radishes, sliced
• 6 tsp pesto (e.g. wild garlic pesto (see tip), rocket or basil pesto)
• Salt flakes

In addition:

• some butter for the ramekins

Heat the Merklinger to approx. 220-250°C.

Wash the asparagus and cut off the woody ends. Cut the spears into 3 cm long, diagonal pieces and arrange in 6 ovenproof dishes with a diameter of approx. 9-10 cm.
Add a pinch of sugar, salt, a teaspoon of lemon juice, 2 teaspoons of olive oil and fresh thyme.

Grease the edges of the ramekins with butter.

Cut out circles with a diameter of approx. 12-15 cm from the puff pastry. (This works very well if you place a small plate on the pastry, for example, and cut around it with a knife).

Place the cut-out puff pastry over the ramekins and press lightly around the edges.

Whisk the egg in a small bowl and brush the pastry lids with it.

Place the oven dishes directly on the firebricks in the hot Merklinger. Bake for 15-20 minutes until the puff pastry has risen nicely and is golden brown.

Remove from the oven, leave to cool slightly and carefully remove the pastry lids from the tins.

Add 2 quartered strawberries and a sliced radish to the cooked asparagus pieces in the oven dishes and mix well with the lukewarm dressing.

Then fill into the puff pastry shells.

Drizzle with a little lemon juice if desired and garnish with 1-2 teaspoons of pesto. Finally, sprinkle with salt flakes.

Tip:
Auch mit Räucherlachs verfeinert ist diese Vorspeise ein kleiner „Merklinger-Traum“.

For the wild garlic pesto:

Wash 150 g wild garlic and shake dry. Peel and finely chop 1 clove of garlic. Finely puree the wild garlic and garlic with 75 g sunflower seeds, 50 g grated Parmesan cheese and 200-250 ml olive oil using a blender or hand blender. Season to taste with salt and pour into clean screw-top jars. Cover the pesto completely with a thin layer of olive oil and seal. It can then be stored in the fridge for several weeks.