I was fortunate enough to be in France during the white asparagus season, so here are ways to cook the lovely vegetable. They are known as part of the bamboo family in Chinese, 芦笋. 笋 being bamboo.
Three ways to cook with white asparagus:
1. Asparagus with slow cooked egg
Our eggs turned out overcooked with the new oven so we improvised.
Ingredients:
4 eggs
16 stalks of asparagus
mushrooms
olive oil
onions
butter
thyme
sea salt
fresh cream
chicken stock
Alot of it was made to taste without specific measurements.
Slow cook the egg in the oven for an hour and half at 65ºc. (note: A normal egg gets into a semi solid state at 62 degrees. You can put a egg at night at 62ºc and the next day in the morning it will be “à la coque”).
Cook asparagus boiling water, then take it out and let is rest in a cold water bath.
Sauce directions: Put olive oil, some diced onion, butter and thyme. Add diced mushrooms and cook it with the butter to get a confit. Then add some liquid cream. Mix well and add some chicken stock to make it more liquid. Strain into another pot, add butter and mix again.
2. Asparagus served with a side of cream shallot vinaigrette reduction
Ingredients:
White asaparagus
50g shallots
500g fresh cream
white wine
white balsamic vinegar
mint/corriander/basil (either or)
sea salt
pepper
lemon juice
Directions:
Cook asparagus in boiled water and cool in a cold water bath.
Sauce:
Cook shallots in white wine, white balsamic vinegar and reduce. Refrigerate after
Add in fresh cream and herb, with splashes of lemon juice, sea salt and pepper to taste.
3. Asparagus espuma with roquefort curry ravioli
Ingredients:
white asparagus/or green
sea salt
St maure cheese or roquefort
curry powder
grilled finely chopped hazelnuts
wanton wrappers (you can buy packets of it at the Chinese grocery store and in Beijing at Xinyuanli market)
chives
hazelnut
curry powder
an egg
Espuma equipment
Directions:
Slice the asparagus very tin, and cook it in a pan with a lot of salt. Add some chicken stock and liquid cream. Mix, strain and pour it inside the espuma bottle 3/4 full.
For the ravioli: Mix the roquefort with fresh finely chopped chives and grill chopped hazelnut, adding a splash of curry powder. Mix all and place them on the wanton skin, beat the egg to use as a gluing agent to seal the skin. Cook the ravioli inside a boiled water and you’re ready to serve with the espuma bottle.
