Asperges blanches. White asparagus. That's what we get, locally, and only in season. It's a specialty of the Sologne — the triangle-shaped region bounded by Tours, Orléans, and Bourges — where the soil is sandy. You have to peel white asparagus spears before you cook them because they have a tough, fibrous skin. But peeled and poached, they are delicious.
We had asparagus with hollandaise sauce on Saturday. The sauce is finicky, but I got a batch to work. It's beaten and warmed up egg yolks made into an emulsion (like mayonnaise) with melted butter, lemon juice or vinegar, and some salt and pepper. The asparagus spears and the sauce are served warm, with a lot of bread. We have asparagus once a week during the season, which runs from April through June.
Love white asparagus, but they're very difficult to find in this area of the world.
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ReplyDeleteI wonder if patience comes with age. or not.
Your Hollandaise looks as if you took your time getting it to the perfect consistency it is supposed to have.
Whereas I rushed mine and though flavorful, it was a bit too runny....
As far as I can tell, HP, a lot of luck is involved. Or a lot more technique than I have. I find it easy to make mayonnaise, but hollandaise is much more delicate because temperature is so important. My sauce broke so I added another egg yolk and it magically thickened up.
ReplyDeleteAsparagus and Hollandaise -- yummmmmm :)
ReplyDeleteWe can find white asparagus in Melbourne but Sue tells me its not common but we do enjoy it when in France.
ReplyDeleteLooks very yummy Ken.
Your Hollandaise sauce is picture book material ... and I bet I was delicious too. Adding and extra egg yolk certainly did the trick. Martine
ReplyDeleteSounds like a nice routine--once a week. :)
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