Smokey Mountain Breakdown

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.