Saturday 9 May 2015

Springtime Stalking!

Asparagi Bianchi & Patate con Pancetta, Zenzero, Cipolla & Lime
White Asparagus & Potatoes with Bacon, Ginger, Onion & Lime

 

White asparagus! An absolute favorite here in Germany and right now, they are at the height of their season! And yet, I have to admit... I am not the greatest fan of the white and tend to prefer the green. Having said that... I could hardly ignore these at the market today... Thick and juicy and perfect as they were...

...and so I took them with me and took it upon myself to try preparing them in a slightly different way to the usual Hollandaise sauce or butter-basted dishes that are usually eaten over here... And I have to say- this was the first white asparagus that I have eaten and really enjoyed in a loooong time! Somehow I think that all of you might like it too!

 

Just simple asparagus and potatoes... And a little moral support from a few aromatics and herbs... A little good olive oil and of course, savory and delicious bacon... These few simple things were all I needed to change my mind about the white asparagus that I had always thought of as so boring... And to change it for good!

 

So, supper consisted of 8 stalks of asparagus, 4 small potatoes, 1 lime, 1 small onion, about 1" of fresh ginger, a small handful of finely chopped bacon, salt, pepper, fresh parsley and good olive oil... And was enough for 2 nice portions!

 

The result was a light, Springtime feast and a delightful change from the usual... It was easy to make and finished in less than half an hour... And that just went to make it even better still!

 

I peeled and cut the potatoes into wedges and started them boiling a little ahead of the other prep work, which was simply to trim and peel the asparagus, to finely chop the onion and ginger and to finely chop or grate about 1 heaped teaspoon of lime zest.

 
 
After the potatoes had boiled for 7-8 minutes or so, I added the peeled asparagus and let them boil for a further 7-8 minutes, until they were slightly translucent, but still had a nice bite to them. I then drained them and the potatoes off, rinsed them briefly under a cold running tap to stop the cooking process and then began to fry the onion, ginger, bacon and lime zest together in a little olive oil.

After the onion had become translucent and the bacon had begun to brown slightly, I added the asparagus and potatoes, seasoned with salt and pepper and carefully tossed everything together. I squeezed in the juice of the lime, a good pinch of finely chopped parsley... And that was it- I was ready to serve everything up!



With plenty of parsley sprinkled on top, a last tad of salt, pepper and Olive oil a couple of wedges of lime for last drizzle of juice, a wonderfully balanced and refreshing dish was born!

 

And who can deny how delicious that looks? Worse still... It means you have GOT to get into the kitchen and make this for yourselves in order to find out haw terrific it really tasted... And it DID taste really terrific! And how!

 
 
Another Springtime success on a plate!

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