It’s pretty amazing what pops out of Mother Earth when she starts to wake up in springtime each year. We’re talking peas, baby garlic, artichokes, fiddlehead ferns, ramps, and rhubarb. But mostly, we’re talking asparagus.
Every restaurant in the country that fancies itself “market cuisine” or “contemporary cuisine” has a special asparagus dish on the menu right now.
In San Diego, savvy diners at Jayne’s Gastropub will make a meal of her sautéed spears topped with a sunny-side-up egg and shaved parmesan. At George’s California Modern in La Jolla, chef Trey Foshee gilds the lily by crowning a “raft” of asparagus (held together with strips of prosciutto) with a “crispy” poached egg. Loosely translated (and quickly gobbled) that means a poached egg that is lightly dredged in flour, dipped in egg wash and thinly cloaked with panko crumbs, then fried. As sous chef Elizabeth Murray describes it, it’s “crispy outside with a nice goosh inside.”
Personally, I’d eat that egg if it were perched on a slab of linoleum.
But back to asparagus.
At 1500 Ocean in the Hotel Del Coronado, chef Brian Sinnott does a farro salad that combines that nutty flavored grain with asparagus, spring peas, roasted red pepper and a citrus vinaigrette.
In Boston, Gordon Hamersley of Hamersley’s Bistro likes to toss the spears with chopped pancetta, shallots and lemon juice; roast them in the oven; then cover them with paper-thin slices of Asiago cheese and run them under the broiler. The recipe is in his "Bistro Cooking at Home" cookbook.
Mario Batali, of the New York-Las Vegas-Los Angeles restaurant empire, has been known to tuck blanched jumbo asparagus under a drizzle of sherry vinaigrette, then top the picture-perfect spears with a poufy cloud of chilled zabaglione enriched with pecorino romano and freshly ground black pepper. In case you haven’t yet wallowed in a good zabaglione, it’s a cloud of whisked egg yolks, Marsala wine and heavy cream whipped to stiff peaks. The recipe is in "The Babbo Cookbook."
In Chicago, where springtime is greeted each year with sheer euphoria, asparagus of all sizes and colors show up on restaurant tables. At MK, fettuccine pasta is interwoven with green “pencil” asparagus that are first blanched, then sautéed with butter, lemon zest, parmesan cheese and fines herbes.
Simple vinagrettes work wonders. The spears on the left are shiny with a mustard and soy sauce dressing. The recipe is from a Mark Bittman article in The New York Times.
What’s your favorite way to celebrate the spring asparagus season? Recipes or restaurant fare...I’d like to hear.
A particularly good asparagus dish is fresh white spears served with Bozner sauce - a specialty of Alto Adige.
Posted by: S. Truppen | April 27, 2008 at 05:37 PM