The special stand dedicated to hold just white asparagus at my next door vegetable market inspired today's post. Tis' the season for these beautiful long soft white stems with their tree tops and streaks of pinkish red running through them. You can prepare them simply by steaming them and serving them with a Hollandaise sauce or serve them chilled with a vinaigrette dressing.
A very special way to use them is to make the asparagus and goat cheese tart that my partner Charlotte prepares for our Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. It is light, out-of-this-world delicious and easy to make. Below is the recipe. If you have any good recipes or suggestions for white asparagus, please leave them in the comments section.
Make sure you peel them before you cook, so they are not bitter and stringy. Also if they are very thick, cut them in halves or quarters. Bon appetit!
Asparagus Tart with Chevre and Arugula
Serves 6-8
1 sheet puff pastry
1 bunch of asparagus, blanched
2 medium eggs, lightly beaten
¼ cup/60 g cream
8 ounces/226 g soft chevre (boursin or ricotta)
¼ cup/25g parmesan
2 tablespoons finely chopped chives
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Hazelnut oil
1 cup arugula leaves, chopped
Roasted hazelnuts
Vinaigrette
¼ cup red wine vinegar
1/3 cup neutral oil
1/3 cup hazelnut oil
Salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F)
Place eggs, cream, chevre, parmesan, nutmeg, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix well.
Roll out pastry on to a floured baking sheet. Place the chevre mixture in the center of the dough and spread the filling out over it, leaving a 3 cm or 1 inch border around the outside. Arrange the asparagus over the top of the filling. Using your fingers lift and push the border onto the filling enclosing the edges. Sprinkle with chives.
Brush pastry with hazelnut oil and bake in the oven 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.
Dress the chopped arugula and sprinkle over the tart before serving.
Charlotte's Goat Cheese Tart-yum, yum and more yum
The Asparagus Keeper- Don't mess with him!
Announcement: My good friend Phil Nuxhall, with whom I did the wonderful tour of Nureyev's grave last year, has just written a fabulous new book Beauty in the Grove about the Spring Grove Cemetery. Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio is the second largest cemetery in the U.S. and is the resting place for the family of Princess Murat of Paris,the parents of Presidents William Howard Taft and Ulysses S. Grant, Ruby White, Harold McClure, the wife of Wild Bill Hickock, and the founder of the Internal Revenue Service. It boasts some of America’s most beautiful works of memorial art in the form of grandiose obelisks, ornate columns, statuary by European artisans, stately mausoleums, and even an Egyptian pyramid and sphinx! One of the major inspirations for Spring Grove’s design and landscape was Pere Lachaise cemetery and its influence can be viewed in this stunning coffee-table book.
Click here for more information and to buy on Amazon
Phil- Isn't he handsome?
Coming soon: Eye Prefer New York Tours
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte’s professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.
Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday
Minimum of 2 students, maximum 6 students.
Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.
I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.
Tours cost 195 euros for up to 3 people, and 65 euros for each additional person. I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com
Gorgeous photos comme toujours and gorgeous Phil! So glad you did this posting. I saw them for the first time in my nabe the other day and bought them but wasn't sure how to prepare/serve them. I ended up peeling them, steaming and serving with vinaigrette but I must confess I didn't see what the big fuss is about. Maybe because mine were much skinnier than the gorgeous, fat, lush specimens here. May just have to come to Paris next spring if only to taste the real thing!
Posted by: Judy | May 06, 2010 at 05:08 PM
Those asparagus looks good enough to eat for dinner tonight! Must stop cleaning and go shopping for the ingredients.
Posted by: Nancy | May 07, 2010 at 02:57 PM