Food and Drinks

Three times asparagus, please!

June 12, 2020September 8, 2020 by Margaret Talbot

For our Easter dinner, of course , we also wanted to make something with asparagus to match the asparagus season and decided to serve three different asparagus dishes as a starter. All three recipes are particularly suitable for larger groups, as the preparation is quite simple. As long as there is still asparagus – the season ends on June 24th, as every year – you should try these dishes.

Cream of white asparagus soup

1 kg of white asparagus
60 g butter
2 egg yolks
1 l vegetable stock
4 tbsp flour
400 ml of cream
200 ml white wine
2 organic lemons
nutmeg
Salt, pepper, sugar
about 100 g smoked salmon

The quantities given are for about 8 people as a main course. At dinner we were of course more, but since it was only supposed to be a small starter, we didn’t prepare the soup for 12 people.

First peel the asparagus, then cut off the heads and, if necessary, remove the woody ends. Then cut the asparagus into pieces about 2 cm long. Bring the broth to a boil and add 1 teaspoon butter and a little sugar. Cook the asparagus without the heads in the soup for about 20 minutes. When the asparagus is soft, remove the soup from the heat.
Then puree the asparagus in the soup with the hand blender so that there are no pieces left.

Now make a roux. To do this, melt the remaining butter in a small saucepan and pour the flour over it and sweat until golden yellow, stirring constantly. Pour in the white wine slowly and then add the mixture to the asparagus soup. Let the whole boil again. Add the asparagus heads and simmer the soup gently for about 10 minutes over the meanwhile heat.

Mix the egg yolks with 200 ml of cream, whip the rest of the cream until stiff. Carefully stir both into the soup. Finally, season the soup with lemon juice, pepper, freshly grated nutmeg and the salt. It is really important to grate the nutmeg fresh and not to use nutmeg that has already been grated. There is definitely a difference in taste.

Then stick the smoked salmon on small wooden skewers, garnish with some fresh dill and serve with the soup.

Tip: You can of course also boil the asparagus peels. Then take less of the vegetable stock and add some of the boiled asparagus water.

Asparagus wrapped in bacon with a liquid egg dip

12 stalks of green asparagus
12 slices of farmer’s bacon / bacon
12 eggs (size M)
some olive oil
Salt, pepper from the mill

We calculated an asparagus spear for 12 people, as we had two other starters. Otherwise you can of course take more. To do this, wash the green asparagus well, cut off any dry ends and wrap the asparagus in farmer’s bacon. Then lay out all the asparagus spears on a baking sheet with parchment paper, brush with the oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake in the preheated oven at 200 ° C for about 10 to 15 minutes, so that the asparagus is lightly brown and the bacon is crispy. You can also turn on the grill setting towards the end of the baking time and push the tray all the way up, but then take care that the bacon does not get too crispy, i.e. black.

In the meantime, boil the eggs. It is best to put eggs at room temperature in boiling water and cook in the sparkling water for 4½ minutes. Then the egg white should be hard and the yolk should still be soft.

Take the asparagus out of the oven and serve with the eggs. Then decapitate the eggs while eating and dip the asparagus spears into the liquid egg.

Ingredients for the asparagus with bacon

Wrap asparagus in bacon

Crispy asparagus with a hot sriracha dip

12 stalks of green asparagus
1 cup of coarse breadcrumbs
½ teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 tbsp water
½ cup of wheat flour (type 405 or 550)

For the dip

1 cup of plain yogurt
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1 finely chopped clove of garlic
2 teaspoons of Sriracha sauce (available in Asian shops)
1 teaspoon lemon peel of an organic lemon
¼ teaspoon salt

Wash the asparagus and remove any dry ends. Roast the breadcrumbs without fat in a pan until golden brown, then place on a plate and mix with the salt. Mix the eggs with the water in a bowl and place the egg mixture on a flat plate. Now set up the breading station: from left to right asparagus, plate with flour, plate with egg mixture, then the plate with breadcrumbs and finally a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Now gradually pass the asparagus through the breading station: so first roll it in flour, then turn it into the egg mixture and finally turn it in the breadcrumbs. Repeat for all 12 bars.

Bake in the preheated oven at 200 ° C with the bacon and asparagus. The asparagus should be cooked but still crispy so not too soft. This takes about 10 to 15 minutes.

In the meantime, prepare the dip. To do this, put all the prepared ingredients in a bowl and stir everything well. Don’t forget to taste.

Then serve the dip with the crispy asparagus.