Weekend Menu

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Japanese meal 

Nori sumashijiru (Clear nori soup)
Tuna sashimi (marinated in soy and mirin)
Mugi gohan (Barley rice)
Asparagus & shiitake ohitashi
Radishes "massaged" with sea salt

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Asparagus, Peas & Parmesan Purée

This is another one of those magical combos which is perfect for spring and easy to make.

The CC made it with fresh peas because he had some but frozen is fine here.

The CC has served this on a bruschetta topped with the asparagus spears and also as a pizza base. Toss with pasta if you like. It's truly amazing.

Ingredients

1 bunch asparagus
1 1/2 cup peas (frozen is fine)
1 1/2 cup parmigiano-reggiano

black pepper
salt (if necessary)

Recipe

First cut up the asparagus. Separate the tender spears and set aside. Then for each stem decide by pressing where the woody bottom portion is and discard. Set the stems aside.

Steam the stems and the peas for about 8 minutes.

Then steam the spears for no more than 1 minute. Be careful. You want some texture left here. They are very soft and will just go limp and disintegrate.

Blend the stems, peas, parmesan, and black pepper in a blender with some water.

Add some more salt to the paste if it needs it. Depends on the saltiness of the cheese really.

(You can also thin the paste if you like if you want to toss with pasta, etc.)

The paste and the spears are now your friends. Top a toasted piece of bread with the paste and top with the spear. Watch them disappear!

Spring is Here

That means asparagus!

Also procured at the markets today — mizuna, parsley, cod, clams.

Still a little early for vegetables because of the cool weather we're having lately.

Pasta with Asparagus, Lemon and Oregano

This is an wonderful spring dish that sounds like a repeat of the former and guess what?

It is!

Doesn't mean it's not equally brilliant though!


Ingredients

2 cups penne
1 bunch asparagus
1 lemon
dried Greek oregano

parmigiano-reggiano
black pepper
sea salt

Recipe

Cut the delicate tops of the asparagus and set aside. Quickly strip the woody bits with a knife. Cut at a steep diagonal angle into thin spears, and set aside separately.

With a peeler, zest the lemon and keep the strips. Dice finely. Set the lemon aside.

Bring the heavily-salted pasta water to a boil. Cook the pasta until al dente.

Meanwhile, heat some olive oil in a pan. Fry the asparagus strips at a low heat until they are well-done (roughly 6-7 mins.) Toss in the spears for about a minute and add the lemon zest, and the oregano. Toss in 1/2 cup of the pasta water.

Toss in the pasta when done. Squeeze the leftover lemon all over it, and toss. Serve with lots of black pepper and parmesan on top.

Pasta with Asparagus, Lemon and Goat Cheese

A wonderful spring dish that's impossible to resist!


Ingredients

2 cups penne
1 bunch asparagus
1 lemon
goat-cheese

black pepper
sea salt

Recipe

The "sauce" in this recipe doesn't really need to cook. All you need is a large bowl to mix everything in.

Cut the delicate tops of the asparagus and set aside. Quickly strip the woody bits with a knife. Cut at a steep diagonal angle into thin spears, and set aside separately.

With a peeler, zest the lemon and keep the strips.

Bring the heavily-salted pasta water to a boil. In a colander, dunk the diagonal asparagus spears for about 3 minutes. Then, toss in the delicate tops for only about 30 seconds. Fish out, and put them in a large bowl.

Cook the pasta until al dente.

Meanwhile, cut the lemon strips extremely fine and add to the cooked asparagus in the bowl. Toss in the goat cheese. Add in about 1/2 cup of the pasta water (which should be boiling) and stir it until it makes a thick sauce.

Toss in the pasta when done. Squeeze the leftover lemon all over it, and toss. Serve with lots of black pepper on top.

Early Riser

Waking up before the sun is overrated.

When the CC got to the farmers' market at 8:00am, they were barely unpacking. After a fruitless (!) 20 minutes pondering the silence of New York, he finally got his goodies.

Asparagus, spring onions, and eggs.

Spring is finally here!

Asparagus Advice

Asparagus season will soon be upon us.

From Jane Grigson's Good Things:

How would you describe the best asparagus? Thick, certainly. Fresh certainly, as, whatever kind is grown, its flavor will deteriorate with delay. No argument here.

But after that, would you prefer it to be blanched white? Or white with a yellowish head? Or green and white streaked with pinkish purple? Or as green as possible?

The answer will tell me more about you than about absolute standards of asparagus perfection. Italians like white asparagus with a yellowish head. The French like their violet and green and white spears. And the English and Americans like unblanched, tender greenness. In our favor, I will modestly add that European chefs working in England have said, do still say, that our fresh asparagus beats all for flavor.

That’s the theory anyway. In practice, your answer would more likely have been curt, rather than considered: “The best asparagus is the asparagus I can afford — when I can find it.”

The CC bows in all humility to the wisdom of the sensei.

Asparagavaganza!!!

Eight pounds of asparagus and eight eaters. You do the math!

Asparagus with different salts
Bruschetta with asparagus, peas and pecorino
Asparagus Soup
Rotini with Asparagus & Walnuts in a Lemon, Goat Cheese Sauce

Asparagus Soup

This is a wondrous testament to Italian cucina povera, cooking born in poverty which produces magic with the most minimal of cheap and throwaway ingredients.

The sore "indulgence" here is the asparagus. The broth is made out of water and the rind of a piece of parmigiano-reggiano.

You'll have to eat it to believe it!

Ingredients

1 bunch asparagus
1 large red onion

1 parmigiano-reggiano rind

4 cups water
salt
lots of black pepper

dried bread crusts to serve

Recipe

Separate the asparagus heads from the stems. Cut the stems into rounds.

Fry the onions and garlic at a low heat. This will take the better part of 12-14 minutes. Fry the asparagus rounds for a while. Add the water, the parm rind, salt and pepper and bring to a slow boil.

Let it simmer for 40 mins or so. Keep skimming the stuff that comes to the top. Remove the rind.

Blend the mixture, and pass through a fine sieve. Bring to a heat again. Add the heads just before serving. Serve over dried bread crusts.

Naw-mai Farang Pad Nahm Man Hoi

Stir-Fried Asparagus & Oyster Mushrooms in Garlic Oyster Sauce.

Simple to make and absurdly scrumpalicious if you have the ingredients (isn't that always that way?)

(Source: Kasma Loha-Unchit.)

Asparagus Odors

The CC loves it, but the aftermath is well-known. The body metabolizes it, and the sulphur-containing compounds (thiols and thioesters) are excreted in the urine.

The funny part is that even though everyone metabolizes the product the same way, only 40% of the population have the genes to actually smell it.

Put it differently -- everyone stinks, but only 40% recognize that they stink.

The CC will make the obvious warning about eating asparagus before an energetic bout of oral sex.

Tomato Risotto with Saffron and Vegetables

Well, the early summer vegetables looked gorgeous, and the weather called for a early summer risotto so the CC complied.

(A conversation with a reader of this blog about this resulted in the reader exclaiming, "umami-rich" about this recipe, and while the CC didn't quite plan that, the astute observation of the reader is both appreciated and commended.)

Ingredients
1 lb shallots (diced finely, or just use the food processor)
4 lbs tomatoes (dunked in boiling water, passed through a food mill)
1 tbsp homemade tomato paste
2 cups Carnaroli or Arborio rice (the CC used the former)
1/2 lb asparagus (tips separated, cut into thin rounds)
1/2 lb young carrots (cut into thin rounds)
1/2 cup tender peas
1 large pinch saffron
olive oil
parmigiano-reggiano
black pepper
dry vermouth (optional)

Recipe

Dilute the tomato pulp with water, and keep it simmering on a low flame in a separate vessel.

Fry the shallots in olive oil soffrito. Fry the tomato paste until the oil separates. Toss in the asparagus rounds, and carrot rounds and fry for a bit. Fry the rice till it is fully coated with the mixture, and the white kernel is clearly visible. Toss in the saffron and then do the risotto thing.

Add a ladleful of boiling tomato broth while stirring. When absorbed, add more, and repeat until the rice is tender.

The asparagus tips and the peas should go in near the end. The CC also adds a dash of dry vermouth towards the end.

The CC couldn't find good basil so he did without it, but ideally he would've garnished it with torn basil leaves.

Serve, with freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano, and black pepper.

Asparagus and Leek Soup

A very classic recipe. A tad early but they somehow had good early spring asparagus at my grocery store.

Ingredients

6 leek tops (cut in rounds)
3 pounds asparagus (you're only going to use the tips)
2 cups broth (use "neutral" broths like a light vegetable broth, or a chicken broth)
2 cups water
1/4 cup coarse parmigiano-reggiano (you can use stuff that's slightly past its prime)
rosemary
salt
pepper
lemon juice (?)

Recipe

Fry the leeks, until they are soffrito. Add the asparagus tips, and fry until it turns bright green. Add the rest of the ingredients, and simmer on extremely low heat for 20-25 minutes or so.

Skim, baby, skim!

Dump the stuff in a blender, and pass through a sieve if you want a smooth soup.

Sometimes I add a little lemon juice to brighten up the flavors.

Serve with a crusty baguette.