Postings from Germany

Round and round we go ...

It's Spargelzeit - asparagus time.  Again. Frankly, I can't believe it.  Has it been a year already? Obviously it has been a year, but still it is hard to believe.

This is not in fact our first Spargelessen (asparagus meal).  Our first was earlier in the week when our veggie ladies had the first small stalks and I bought some to make a salad.  It was yum (cooked the asparagus, cooled, tossed with a walnut oil vinaigrette).

But this was dinner, so it was white asparagus, smoked ham, boiled potatoes- the traditional Spargel Essen.  But, not butter sauce this time, rather a hollandaise with Bärlauch (ramps).  

What a disaster.

But that 's later.  First, the ribbons.  We're cooking ribbons!?  Yes, we are.  The white asparagus is not nearly as tender as the green and you do really have to peel them.  Fresh, they tend to be crispy enough to break as you are peeling them, so it's good to lay them on a surface - and you get all these lovely ribbons!  Wow.  What do do? You can't throw them away, of course, so you cook them into a lovely base for soup (with potato peels - adds to the flavor and moderates the bitterness of the asparagus.)  Tomorrow, we'll have soup with the couple of stalks saved from dinner.

 Isn't that pretty?  Wrapped bunches of peeled asparagus, ramps finely sliced.  The ramps, garlic-y flavored fresh green early-in-the-springtime so welcome, are the last ingredient in the sauce that is, we learned, not to be tackled by newbies like us.  It was lumpy and not smooth and, well, ugly.  Thank goodness, it tasted fantastic!

Smoked ham, boiled potatoes, asparagus with ramp/hollandaise sauce. 

Once again, I have to say, we eat like royalty here.