Cooking with the Dutchess:
By By Hanneke Eerden
About two weeks ago I saw them already at the greengrocer: white asparagus! Sadly the price for 1 pound was so high that I didn’t buy them at that time. People also call them “the white gold” but that has nothing to do with the price! Every time I’m at the greengrocer I keep an eye on the price tag, but not much has changed yet. I can hardly wait, because these white ones are much more delicious than the green ones. The green ones, you can buy all year round, the white asparagus only a few weeks in a year. Of course, I’m talking about fresh ones, from The Netherlands or Germany (just a few miles from here).
At the supermarket you can buy white asparagus almost all year too, but then they come from Peru for example. Nothing’s wrong with that, they taste almost the same, but that’s just not what I’m looking for. The weird thing is that the ones which have traveled half the globe, to get to my plate, are cheaper than the ones I can buy fresh just a few miles away! That’s a crazy situation in my opinion.
Asparagus need warm temperatures to grow and to get their specific taste. But as soon as they peak above the sand, they’ll turn purple/green. So the timing to harvest is crucial. The green ones have a very different taste than their white relatives. For grilling I recommend the green ones, sprinkled with olive oil, pepper, salt, grated parmesan cheese and some lemon juice, they make a great side dish!
Another difference is that the white asparagus need a different preparation before you can eat them. It all starts with peeling, thoroughly peeling! They have a tough bitter layer that begins about 1 inch from the top. The bottoms are not quite edible either so make sure you cut off the end (about ½ an inch). For the peeling I recommend a sharp vegetable peeler, and make sure you lay them flat on a cutting board, starting at the top and work towards the bottom. Treat them with care because before you know it they’ll snap in two!
It’s a tradition over here to eat the first white asparagus on Mothers’ Day, but I have to admit that I usually can’t wait that long! The best way to eat them, or the way I liked them most, is boiled and then served with a hollandaise sauce, crumbled hard boiled eggs and some ham. So that’s the recipe I’m going to make for you this time! If you want, you can use smoked salmon instead of ham too, to make it a bit more fancy…..but both dishes are incredibly delicious! Here, I’ll teach you a little trick….
Asparagus from The Dutchess for 2-4 servings:
2 lbs fresh white asparagus
1 tablespoon sugar
Hollandaise sauce
Ham or smoked salmon
2 hard boiled eggs, crumbled
Peel the asparagus as I mentioned above. Take a clean towel and make it wet, wrap the peeled asparagus with the wet towel and set them aside in the fridge. The trick is this: don’t throw away the ends and the peeled skins. Add these to a wide pan filled ¾ with water. Bring this to a boil and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Remove the skins and ends and add the sugar and the peeled asparagus. Boil them for about 15 minutes (or until soft).
Drain them and serve with the eggs, ham/salmon and hollandaise sauce.
Hollandaise sauce: the easiest method is using a blender: add 3 egg yolks, ¼ teaspoon mustard, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, some salt and pepper. Blend for 5 seconds, add ½ cup melted hot butter in a thin stream while blending. Serve immediately.
As always ~ Bon Appetit!