Dear Andra,
Spring Asparagus Soup
Ingredients: 4 tablespoons olive oil; 1lbs pencil green asparagus trimmed 2 inches from bottom; 1 small white onion peeled and finely chopped; 3 cups chicken stock (or a light vegetable stock); 2 cups tightly packed fresh baby spinach; 4 teaspoons finely chopped chives; 4 oz goat cheese; salt and freshly ground pepper; 1 tablespoons cold butter cut into small pieces.
Prepare the asparagus by cutting the tips off – about 1 inch and reserve them for serving (I add them to the soup raw as a garnish). Halve the asparagus lengthwise and chop it.
In a heavy bottomed pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Sauté the onion until soft (3-4 minutes). Add the asparagus and a generous sprinkle of salt and sauté for another couple of minutes.
Add the chicken stock, increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 15 minutes. Add spinach and continue to simmer for 2 min.
Working in 2 batches, puree soup until smooth- 1 min per batch. I strained it but this took some patience and a little time. Bring soup back to boil, and add butter whisking until it melts.
Bring the goat cheese to room temperature. With a fork, fold chives and oil into cheese and season with cracked pepper. To serve: put 2 tablespoons of cheese in the center of a soup bowl and carefully place 3-4 pieces of the fresh asparagus you set aside on the cheese.
Tips:
* Halving the asparagus and chopping it makes it more tender during the cooking process.
** Use homemade stock. It keeps your flavors clean and pure and the sodium intake down.
*** The trick to your blender not exploding when you seal hot liquid in is to take that little plastic piece out of the lid. It allows it to breathe and not pressurize because of the heat. Cover with a cloth and your hand. You won’t get burned and the top won’t fly off like it could have if it were totally sealed in. But your cloth will likely get a little dirty.
****Straining this removes all the fibrous parts that did not cook down and blend. It is time consuming but worth it. A chinois makes life easier.
Asparagus and Tomato Bacon Stew, an AdHoc
Ingredients: 3 oz John Long Farms bacon cut into 1/4 inch lardons; 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped leeks; 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped onion; 1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic; salt & pepper to taste; 8 ripe Roma tomatoes, peeled, cored, and quartered;, canola oil; 1 pound asparagus, trimmed, peeled and cut into 2 inch pieces; 1/3 cup chicken stock
In a heavy bottomed pot, heat 2-3 tablespoons water over medium heat and add the bacon. Reduce the heat to low and allow the bacon to render its fat for about 30 minutes. The water is supposed to keep the bacon from crisping so if it evaporates and the bacon begins to crisp (not just brown), add another tablespoon of water to prevent that.
Keep the bacon and about 2 tablespoons of fat in the pot and reserve the rest. Place the pot over medium heat and add leeks, onion, garlic.
Stir to coat with the fat and add salt and pepper. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes until soft and add the tomatoes. Bring to as simmer, and allow to cook for about 45 minutes stirring occasionally. Transfer half of the tomato mixture to a blender and puree.
Return it to the rest of the mixture and cook about 10 minutes longer until it thickens slightly- until it is no longer soupy and has a rich consistency.
Prepare the asparagus- peel, trim, cut.
In a large frying pan, heat the fat you reserved earlier over medium low heat. If you don’t have enough fat to coat the bottom of this pan with a thin film, add a little canola oil. Arrange as much of the asparagus as fits in a single layer in the pan and add 3 tablespoons of chicken stock. Season with salt and cook until the asparagus is tender but not limp. This should take 6-7 minutes. Remove the asparagus and cook the rest of it, if any left, the same way.
To serve, place the cooked asparagus on plates and top with the tomato bacon stew.
Tips:
*You can get John Long bacon at In Season Local Market in the Highlands neighborhood. It is my favorite but you can also use a replacement, of course.
**To peel the tomatoes, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Core the tomato and with a sharp knife cross X on the bottom of it, only deep enough to pierce the skin. Put the tomatoes into the boiling water for about 15 seconds. Remove to an ice bath. The peel should come off easily.
***Peeling the asparagus makes it amazing. Really. It removes its stringiness and toughness and turns its texture into smooth, fresh, and a little crunchy. It takes a little longer to prep it this way but it is undoubtedly worth it. The only warming is that you might never be able to go back to unpeeled.
Asparagus Coins
Ingredients: 1 pound asparagus; 1/3 pound Prosciutto de Parma; 1 medium shallot, minced; the peel from one large lemon, minced and 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice; 1/4 cup olive oil, salt to taste (coarse kosher salt for cooking and fleur de sel for finishing).
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the prosciutto slices on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or on a Silpat. When the oven is ready put the prosciutto in and bake for about 10 minutes. Check at 8 minutes and rotate. If after 10 minutes, the prosciutto does not appear much drier and almost crispy, cook longer. Cooking time depends a lot on the accuracy of your oven, the surface you cook the prosciutto on, and the thinness of the prosciutto slices. When ready, break the now0-crispy prosciutto slices into 1/2 inch to 1 inch bits. Reserve in a bowl.
Peel the asparagus, trim the ends and tips, and discard. Cut the asparagus into 1/4 inch coins and reserve.
Prepare the shallot- peel and mince very small. Same for the lemon peel except try mincing it a little smaller.
Pour the olive oil in a medium sauce-pan over medium heat. When warm, add the asparagus and a sprinkle of salt and swirl it well in the pan making sure the coins are coated with the oil. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the asparagus gets a bright lively green color and is cooked but still has a crunch. Salt to taste and add just a dash of lemon juice.
Place the asparagus on the plates and add to each individual serving, the minced shallot, minced lemon, and bits of prosciutto. Adding these to the individual plates keeps their texture intact, minimally unaffected by the temperature of the asparagus or the liquid it accumulates.
Serve with a sprinkle of fleur de sel and a drizzle of a great olive oil.
Tips:
* The best way to get the prosciutto truly crispy is on a Silpat (a silinome sheet). If you don’t have one, it is a good investment- very useful for a variety of cooking and baking needs.
** To get a really thin citrus peel, use a mandoline on the smallest setting.
***Peeling the asparagus makes it amazing. Really. It removes its stringiness and toughness and turns its texture into smooth, fresh, and a little crunchy. It takes a little longer to prep it this way but it is undoubtedly worth it. The only warming is that you might never be able to go back to unpeeled.
