Asparagus

[Gardian]

I bought our first asparagus of the season on the local market this morning.   Not cheap, but reasonably priced - €6 for 500gms, which will give the two us 3 lunch portions.  

Lovely it was too!

[betise]

I bought my first bunch today, will be having it with our lunch tomorrow.  They can keep their white ones, I'm a sucker for those delicate green heads, the soup I make with the cooking water and the rest, even the smelly pee afterwards. Spring has sprung.

[menthe]

I'm with you on this one betise.  I just do not like the white ones; they look like fat white overgrown slugs to me.  The green ones are best but they do need to be fresh and not bundled up in a sad looking parcel with rubber band as they do in supermarkets.

I do some of my veg shopping at a little stone building on the grounds of a chateau where everything is "locau" and bio and all the clientele always seem happy to have a chat.

Takes ages for the one or two vendeurs to tote up the cost of your purchases on his hand-held calculator, wrap up your cheese in ready-cut squares of paper, ask you whether you wanted something unwrapped to eat straightaway, discuss the weather and so on. 

But the views from the chateau grounds are wonderful and far-reaching and the earth floor of the "shop" smells nicely of somehow healthy damp and rusticity.

[Gardian]

Well, the price has dropped dramatically since last week.   €4 / botte (500 gms) today for really nice quality ‘fines vertes’.

I thought that I’d posted our preferred method of cooking it, but it went missing !  So, I’ll repeat it.

Using the steamer, 9-10 mins, then butter, rock salt and shavings of (good quality) Parmesan.  Bread to mop up.

Extra bonus today - Gariguette strawberries.  Only available for about a month in the Spring.  To our taste, 10x better than most other strawberries, which often don’t taste of much.  These are both sweet and sharp, if that makes sense.  It will do if you try them.

[Judith]

Guardian, I agree about Gariguette, delicious, and yes, both sharp and sweet at the same time.  I am afraid I am the only one who eats aspargus in this house, so I rarely buy it, but do enjoy it simply lightly cooked in the microwave in minumun water, with butter .. on and off.

[betise]

17 hours ago, Gardian said:

 

Using the steamer, 9-10 mins, then butter, rock salt and shavings of (good quality) Parmesan.  Bread to mop up.

 

Wot, no freshly ground pepper (gasp) ?

[menthe]

Bought some today.  Definitely lots of freshly ground pepper, lashings of good quality salted butter and I think I'll have 2 poached eggs with mine😀

[PerioPady]

Hey, that sounds absolutely delicious! Asparagus is such a versatile veggie, and your preparation with freshly ground pepper and salted butter sounds amazing. And poached eggs?

[PerioPady]

7 minutes ago, PerioPady said:

Hey, that sounds absolutely delicious! Asparagus is such a versatile veggie, and your preparation with freshly ground pepper and salted butter sounds amazing. And poached eggs?

Yum! It's making my mouth water just thinking about it. If you're ever in the mood for more culinary inspiration, you should definitely check out the cuisine at Americas Restaurant. They have some amazing recipes that are sure to elevate your taste buds to the next level!