Saturday, June 14, 2008

Flemish-style Asparagus

This dish dates back to the Middle Ages, but remains very popular to this day. Typical for this time of year, well, from middle to late spring, you will often see people enjoying these asparagus during the short time that they're available. A true image of essential Belgian cooking, this recipe calls for very little main ingredients: asparagus, butter and eggs. So naturally you must ensure you can get your hands on some topnotch ingredients!

What do you need ?

This serves two people:

0,5 kg of white asparagus
2 to 3 eggs
80-90 gr of butter
20 g or a good handful of parsley (depending on your taste)
pepper
salt
nutmeg

Let's get cooking!

1. Peel the asparagus, removing the harder skin on the outside

2. Once you've peeled and cleaned them, bring the asparagus together into a bundle, and bind them together using a piece of string (one which can be used for cooking purposes, free of chemicals etc).

3. Put the bundle of asparagus in a casserole with cold, lightly salted water and bring it to a boil. Boil the asparagus to the point where they still have a bit of a bite. If you boil them too long, then you'll end up with mushy, soggy asparagus... Take them out of the water and place them on a towel, allowing the excess water to be soaked up by the towel.

4. Coarsely chop the parsley.

5. Boil some water, and hard-boil the eggs. Some people add a dash of vinegar, however this is optional. Once boiled, take out the eggs and start peeling them when they're still hot. Crush the peeled eggs using a fork.

6. Melt the butter.

7. Combine the melted butter, eggs and parsley and mix them well. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste.

Now place the asparagus (about 5 per person) on a plate, and pour the butter sauce over them. Place a little bit of freshly chopped parsley on top. Serve immediately!!

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