Asparagus, garlic, feta, lemon, thyme

Also belated from early Summer...

We did a pretty good job of asparagus season this year, if I do say so myself. We ate lots... and as much of it from our veg share as possible (think we ordered a special asparagus bag every week!). Everything seems to be growing well this year, and I guess asparagus was no exception. And it turned out small S loves it (although only the tips: he is a discerning little bug)... Much of it was prepped v simply - either with st george’s mushrooms or just boiled for 4 min and then dressed with melted butter and lemon juice... this is only slightly more complicated, but is now my other favourite way to eat it...

olive oil

c. 4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 large bunch asparagus, tough bits snapped off and rest snapped into nice-sized  pieces

salt+pepper

zest and juice of approx 1/4 lemon

c. 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves

1/2 pack of feta

Heat olive oil in a large frying pan with a lid and add the garlic. Sizzle for a few min, then add the asparagus pieces. Season with salt and pepper, cover and cook for a few minutes, then uncover and cook until excess moisture is gone and there is a little colour on the asparagus (it should be tender). Turn off the heat and let cool a bit, then squeeze over the lemon juice and add half the zest. Allow to cool a bit more, then serve warm, with the feta crumbled on top and thyme leaves and rest of the lemon zest scattered over it.

Bean pasta

Bean pasta is weirdly good. We've found and tried all sorts - red lentil, pea, soybean... Our favourite, after trying them all, is of course the first one we tried: green soybean fettucine. It's great - has a really interesting, springy texture. This recipe reminded me of it, and to combine green bean pasta with lots of other green things. 

200 g bean pasta
500 g asparagus, cut into 1-2 in long pieces
1 leek, trimmed and chopped
300 g frozen peas
1 pack tempeh, chopped into chunks
4 tbsp olive oil
zest of a lemon
3 tbsp capers
A large handful fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped

Boil a large pan of salted water.  Add the bean pasta. When it has about 3 min left add the asparagus, peas, leek and tempeh. Cook until done. Drain and put back in the pot with olive oil, lemon zest, capers, mint and some salt. Taste and eat.

St. George's mushrooms and asparagus

We had a short but wonderful season of St. George's mushrooms in our garden. This was the first time I'd found and eaten St. George's mushrooms, but I checked them out thoroughly and was really sure. Key features are: that they grow in the lawn, in rings, they are white with white gills and a white spore print, they do not colour red or any other colour on bruising, they are firm and 5-15 cm across, and most importantly, they are pretty much the only mushrooms around in the Spring. They are named because in the UK they usually come up around St. George's Day. In German they are called Maipilz, because they usually come up a little later in May / Mai.

Here in Denmark, they first appeared early May. Despite being sure what they were pretty much from the beginning, we did a spore print, then I ate just one as an experiment. It's usually a good idea to eat just a little the first time, even though neither Seb nor I have yet had any bad reactions. That went well (and was delicious), so we decided to eat more!

I bought another mushroom book since moving back to Europe - I am building up quite a good collection. This one is definitely one of my favourites already: the River Cottage mushroom book. Like my other favourite mushroom books, this one is written by a strong and funny character who really knows his stuff. Also, it contains recipes. Something I realized soon after starting to hunt wild mushrooms is that every one has a different taste and texture, so different cooking methods suit different mushrooms. Therefore, it's great to have recipes that specify a particular type of mushroom. The book suggests a really simple Spring combination: St. George's mushrooms and asparagus. So that's what we did... twice!

St. George's mushrooms have gone straight to the top of my mushroom list. For several reasons... 1) they have a nice, mushroomy taste; 2) they have a great, firm texture - one of the best; 3) they do not shrink that much on cooking (because they are quite firm); 4) they are a good size and grow in rings, so if you find one you'll find several meals' worth; and 5) they come up in Spring, when there is a dearth of other kinds of mushrooms around, both edible and inedible - this makes identification easier, and means you get a dose of lovely tasty mushrooms to tide you over until Autumn.

We had St. George's mushrooms from our lawn, and some of the best asparagus I've ever eaten from our food share KBHFF. The second time, we shared with my sister, and she took the picture.

about 200g St George’'s mushrooms
salt and pepper
12 asparagus spears, trimmed
1 tbsp olive oil
50 g butter

Clean, trim and halve the mushrooms (or quarter them if they're large).

Bring a saucepan of water to the boil, add salt, then add the asparagus and cook for 3–4 min until just tender. Drain and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat, add the mushrooms and sauté gently until they are tender and the liquid they release has evaporated. St George's mushrooms need a fair bit of cooking and don't contain that much water, so keep the heat low to avoid drying them out before they're cooked through.

Add the steamed asparagus spears to the mushroom pan, along with the butter. Season with salt and pepper, toss around once or twice, and serve at once, with bread.

Shaved asparagus salad

Well, it is raining, and due to rain for another two days solid. And still not warm enough for almost-April. But the first asparagus of the year makes it feel like Spring (even if it has come all the way from California). Half the bunch we sauteed with garlic, the rest I made into this salad - thought it might be fun to try something different, and I've never really eaten it raw before (apart from nibbling on trimmings).

1/2 big bunch of asparagus (~8 good-sized spears)
juice of 1/2 a lemon
2-3 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp white miso
salt and pepper
handful of toasted flaked almonds

Shave the asparagus along its long direction using a peeler. Put the shavings in a shallow serving dish. In a small bowl, whisk the lemon juice, olive oil and miso with a fork, adding salt and pepper to taste. Pour the lemon juice mixture over the asparagus shavings and toss. Sprinkle with toasted almonds and serve.

Bowlful of fiddleheads

Yesterday, via Alvin's CSA, I came by a little bag of beautiful fiddleheads. These things are perhaps the cutest food ever: little dark-green scrolls, each one a developing fern leaf, wild harvested. This variety is, I believe, a Northeastern speciality: they only grow in the region (think they are these). So we are lucky.

I'd eaten these only a couple of times before. The first time we just boiled them (in Keane, NH). This time I decided to blanch them with steam and then fry them with garlic. When I tasted them I immediately thought of peas, so decided to eat them in a sort of Spring-filled rice bowl, with peas, mint and dandelion-ramp miso (ramps aka wild leeks being another Northeastern Spring speciality).

(this quantity about right for 2 people)

For the fiddleheads:
1 small bag of fiddleheads (about 2 cups)
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
salt+pepper
lemon juice

The rest of the bowl:
1 cup brown rice, black barley and radish seed mix, cooked
1 cup frozen peas, cooked
2-3 tbsp sunflower seeds, toasted
1-2 tbsp fresh mint, chopped
1-3 tsp dandelion-ramp miso (to taste)

Clean the brown stuff off the fiddleheads and trim off any brown patches. Put them in a steamer and steam for 10-12 minutes, until any bitterness has gone (but they are still green and have some bite). Remove from the steamer and plunge into cold water, then drain / dry out as best you can.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan, then add the garlic and fry for a few minutes, until just starting to brown. Add the fiddleheads and fry on medium-high until any wetness has evaporated and the garlic and fiddleheads are starting to brown around the edges. Turn off the heat and add salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste.

For each serving, assemble a mixture of fiddleheads, rice mix, peas, toasted seeds, mint and miso in a bowl, in whatever proportions you like, mix and then eat.


The fiddleheads have a fairly subtle, green taste: they are very nice. And they look so pretty and interesting. I like how the flavours go together but remain distinguished in this mixture. And I like being able to assemble it to taste per bowl: you can use as little or as much of the other stuff and mix it up as much or as little as you like, so that you can always have some mouthfuls where you have nothing but fiddlehead and others where you have the whole interesting lot.

The fiddlehead cooking method worked well. Think you could use asparagus chopped into 2 inch pieces instead of the fiddleheads, if fiddleheads are not available. And use any kind of miso (preferably aged).

Steamed asparagus, sesame, miso

Asparagus is wonderful stuff. I like it just as it is, lightly steamed or fried. But for maximum enjoyment I think it needs a little bit of a smooth, creamy sauce. Hollandaise is traditional, but I find it bland, slimy, overly rich and cloying. I tried a version with miso before and wasn't sure about it. This is an variation on that idea, and I really like it.

1 bunch of asparagus

2 tbsp white miso
2 tbsp tahini
1 tsp honey (or sugar)
1 tbsp mirin or white wine or vermouth
1/2 tsp sesame oil
juice of 1/2 a lime
water

2 tsp white sesame seeds
2 tsp black sesame seeds
1-2 tsp chopped fresh coriander

Wash the asparagus. Trim it: starting at the base keep bending the stem until you reach a point where it breaks, discard the base part and keep the tip. Put the tips in a steamer and steam for about 10 minutes, until tender but still bright green (check along the way to make sure it isn't overcooking). Put straight into cold water to stop cooking.

While the asparagus is cooking, make the sauce by mixing together the miso, tahini, lime juice, honey, wine and sesame oil. Add water until you get a thick, creamy, just-pourable consistency. Separately, mix the two different kinds of sesame seeds together.

Arrange the cooked asparagus on a plate and drizzle the sauce all over. Sprinkle the sesame seeds and chopped coriander over the top. Done!


This is delicious, and takes about 15 min from beginning to end so great for a weeknight supper. It's a bit early in the year for asparagus but I found some in the reduced section and figured it was only going to waste if I didn't eat it...

baked tofu / miso asparagus

 Baked tofu from this recipe.

1 package firm tofu
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons grated or finely minced ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons mirin or other white wine
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons soy sauce.

Heat the oven to 375°F.  Cut the tofu into ~10 slices and put them in an oven dish.  Mix the other ingredients, and pour them over the tofu.  Bake for 40-50 minutes, until the liquid is absorbed.

Miso asparagus from this recipe.

1 large bunch asparagus, trimmed
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
4 teaspoons white miso
4 teaspoons white wine
2 teaspoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil

Heat the oven to 375°F.  Mix all the ingredients except the asparagus together.  Spread the asparagus on a baking sheet and pour the marinade on top, mixing around a bit.  Put in the oven for about 35 min.


I stumbled on the asparagus recipe and it seemed like a great idea as S has been super into miso and to a lesser extent asparagus recently.  And the tofu one was just an afterthought as I had some tofu that needed eating and hadn't tried baking it before.  Actually, in the end I liked the tofu much better - didn't think the miso texture went all that well with the asparagus, but the tofu was dead tasty - the sweetness from the honey, saltiness from the soy and gentle fire from the ginger went really well.

Red lentil dip and skordalia

We bought flower bread from Clear Flour and fancied some stuff to eat with it.  So I roasted some tomatoes (with onions, garlic and thyme, as here), and made some dips...


Red lentil dip

For a while back in Norwich this was a regular feature.  Hadn't made it for a while, but bought a bag of red lentils the other day (after a meal at Red Lentil - so easily suggestible), and remembered about it.

1 cup red lentils
1 1/2 cups water
1 tsp ground cumin
1 clove garlic
juice of 1/2 a lemon
2 tbsp olive oil
salt

Put the lentils in a small saucepan with the water.  Boil for 2 min, then turn off heat, cover and leave for ~15min.  Add other ingredients and blend to a paste.


Skordalia

We ate this in a Greek place in Queens the other week and it was tastebud-crushingly garlicky, but also very good.  It reminded me I'd made it once before, with wild garlic in Norwich (where foraging was a more realistic option than here).  Thought it could be good with the bread too.  This time I made it with regular garlic, although tried to downregulate the garlickiness to save our tastebuds a bit.

500g / 4 medium, floury potatoes
~3 cloves garlic
1 tsp white wine vinegar
juice of 1/2 a lemon
~ 3 tbsp olive oil
salt

Boil the potatoes until done (~20-25min).  Drain, and mash until smooth. Crush the garlic to a paste. Add the other ingredients to the potato and mash til smooth. Add more olive oil / salt to taste.

The red lentil dip is an instant classic - so quick to prepare, and open to endless variations. My current fave is with cumin, paprika, cinnamon, a little chilli and ginger, and some pomegranate molasses.

The skordalia recipe makes quite a lot. We ate a lot of asparagus (pan-fried and steamed) in the following few days and discovered that skordalia makes an excellent creamy / garlicky sauce to eat with it - just as I was thinking 'hmmm this needs something' skordalia appeared before me and was a perfect match.