Friday, April 27, 2007
Asparagus
It is time to pick these lovely things. They are my first taste of spring greenness.
They would have come up sooner, but we had such a bad hard freeze that killed just about everything.
And the goaties have unfortunately discovered them.
These don't make it into the kitchen very often, quite frankly. I snap them off and eat them in the garden. They are lovely raw and just picked. When I do cook them, I prefer to just lightly steam them and then put some butter and perhaps a bit of
garlic on them. It's a simple food, simple and fresh.But....
If you do want to get a bit fancy with your asparagus...and now is the perfect season to get it at the market...
Here's a lovely quiche recipe to try...
Asparagus Quiche
Pastry for a 9 inch pie pan
12 to 15 asparagus spears, trimmed
boiling water
salt
1/2 cup grated Gruyere cheese
1 cup grated Swiss Cheese
6 eggs
2 cups light cream
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 425. Line a 9 inch pie pan with pastry and flute edges. Cook asparagus in 1/2 inch boiling water with 1/4 teaspoon salt for 5 minutes and drain well. Spread cheeses evenly in pastry crust. Place asparagus in pie pan like spokes of a wheel, tips outward. Beat together eggs, light cream, 1 teaspoon salt, nutmeg and pepper. Pour over cheese and asparagus. Bake for 40 minutes in a pan of water until puffed and golden. Cool 5 minutes before cutting. Is excellent cold.
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Big baby goat is doing fine, by the way. I put up another video of him on the blog--he's not too far behind his mom as far as size goes.
you do Friday Food Porn and I always enjoy those posts.. this one especially.. asparagus tender shoots.. yum! right from the garden.. only better than that is the light steam with a little butter and sea salt..
Gosh, and I ALWAYS droool over the thought of Goat Milk Fudge. I'll have to put in an order one of these days. Especially now that I finally got my Federal Refund!
:-)
Put a bit of water in (I like less) get it boiling, add the asparagus and in two quick minutes it's blanched.
Percolated coffee is gross but percolated asparagus is perfect...
Also the salad spinner makes for fine artwork.
jbeeky, asparagus is very easy to grow. The trick is that it takes years to really establish. My beds are four years old and are now producing well, though I regret not planting more originally. They are also a very lovely addition to landscaping. They produce huge feathery fronds that produce tiny white flowers then small red berries. It's one of those plants that really shines in an edible landscaping plot. You can buy "crowns" to plant at your local home improvement store. I highly recommend them...just tuck them away in the back of a border.
This will change. TO.DAY.