Star with Weaknesses - The First Asparagus

It should have made me suspicious - at the market yesterday there was almost only Greek asparagus. Only at two stands there was German asparagus. One at horrendous prices - 18 EUR per kilo, and there it didn’t look so fresh anymore. And at Eichner, one of the larger seasonal vegetable stands, there was a lot of Greek asparagus and also some from the Lower Rhine for 13 EUR. It looked quite good…

To anticipate - it did not taste at all. Almost tasteless, partly a bit musty, with woody parts, the heads remained quite hard. Stored too long? This is not how I had imagined the start of the season - it is probably still too early after this long winter. However, it is a pity that such low-quality asparagus is sold on the market….

But the asparagus cooking process is still sitting! Since we make asparagus with hollandaise sauce definitely 10-15 times every year, the preparation goes without much thought and planning.

• Peel 1 kg of asparagus, peel in the asparagus pot already on.
• 500 g potatoes (Sieglinde, still from last year. The new ones are still too “pale” and not from here anyway) wash and put on as jacket potatoes.
• Simmer 150 g butter and separate the fat from the whey. Preheat oven to 80
• When the potatoes are boiling: separate 3 eggs, whisk the egg yolks with 3 tablespoons of white wine, salt and nutmeg in a whipping kettle over the boiling potatoes until foamy. While doing this, gradually add the butter in a thin stream. If it gets too thick, add a tablespoon of cold water.
• 10 minutes before the potatoes are ready, place the asparagus in the boiling water. Heads remain exposed.
• When potatoes are done: Keep sauce warm in oven, preheat plates in oven, peel potatoes.
• Unwrap bacon and arrange
• After 16-18 minutes, remove asparagus from water and place on preheated plates. Add potatoes, sauce and bacon.

I will take a closer look at the next asparagus!

white-alsace-aspargus bundle with sauce hollandaise, long lens, depth of field, professional color grading, clean sharp focus, film photography, evenly lit bright room