Thursday, April 1, 2010

White Asparagus with ham, egg and new potatoes




This dish is one of my all time favorites. Although it is not so much a recipe, more a combination of cooked items, it is definitely a great combination! In the Netherlands the season for Dutch white asparagus is starting soon (the season is roughly from half of April until half of June). I found them here in South Africa once or twice in November, but I have no idea where they came from. Anyway, they looked delicious and of course I had to prepare them our traditional way.

Serves 4:
- 1,5 kg white asparagus (thickest you can find!)
- 1 tsp sugar
- 6 eggs
- 400 g ham
- 1,5 kg new/baby potatoes, skin on
- a stick of butter, don't be shy
- salt 
- (grated nutmeg)

Ok, this is very easy. Peel the asparagus (with a special peeler), holding them flat on a cutting board (be careful not to break them) and cut about 1 cm off the end. Boil the strips of peel and the ends for 15 minutes in a pan with a liter of water with a bit of sugar and salt. Keep the asparagus in a bowl of cold water until needed.
Discard peel and ends, keep the liquid to boil the asparagus in.
Boil asparagus for 5 minutes in the asparagus liquid, remove from fire and leave them with the lid on the pan for about 15 to 20 minutes.
In the mean time, boil the potatoes in their skin for about 20 minutes, boil the eggs for 8 minutes, melt the butter on low heat in a pan and arrange cold ham slices in rolls on a plate.
Peel the eggs and arrange them on the plate with the ham.
Drain the asparagus and lay them on a plate with a cotton kitchen towel.
Serve with the potatoes, butter, salt and freshly grated nutmeg.

2 comments:

  1. Great post!
    My Oma in Germany grows White asperagus every year: the smell, look and taste is such a memory rejuvinator :)

    I love the simplicity of this dish--it really would showcase the earthiness of this prized veg

    cheers~!
    christellar

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  2. I agree! Too bad the season for these white treasures is so short and you hardly ever see them here in SA :.(

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