Grilled asparagus salad with warm poached egg

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Spring is here!

So, I was sick all last week and feeling very sorry for myself. My wonderful mother thought she needed to perform some real old fashioned motherly duties and arrived at our house bearing gifts: a care package containing bunches of flowers and two shopping bags full of lovely treats like papaya, grapes, chocolate Swiss roll, more baked goods than is good for me, a whole chicken, and loads of lovely fresh veggies including two bunches of asparagus. She even hoovered the hall stairs, what an amazing lady! I am now systematically cooking my way through all the delightful ingredients she brought, and last night I whipped up this dish for Lu and I. It tasted even better than it looks!

(for 2 people)

Ingredients:

1 Bunch asparagus

2 eggs

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

2 large handfuls rocket leaves

6 leaves of romaine lettuce

2 slices good crusty Italian (or similar) bread

1 clove garlic

juice of half a lemon

olive oil

mustard

honey

Hold each asparagus spear at either end and bend until it breaks where it naturally should break. Discard the woody ends. Toss the asparagus spears in olive oil and pepper and place under a hot grill. Grill for 4-5 mins on both sides until slightly charred and softened.

Meanwhile, bring a shallow pan of water (about 3 inches in depth) to a rolling boil. Wash the salad leaves and dry. make the salad dressing using 3 parts olive oil to 1 part lemon juice, and about a teaspoon of honey and a teaspoon of mustard (depends on how you like it). Use this to dress the salad leaves.

Toast the bread and cut the garlic clove in half. Rub the cut edge of the garlic all over the slices of toast.

Turn the heat down on the boiling water until it is just simmering. Add the vinegar. Break an egg into a shallow cup or ladle, and tip it as quickly as you can into the water. The idea is to try to get the egg to stay as 'together' as possible while you are tipping it into the water. Do the same with the other egg, you can cook the two of them together in the same pan. Use a slotted spoon to check if the egg is cooked. The white should be firm but the yolk still runny. Give it about 3 minutes.

To serve, assemble the salad & asparagus on the toast and top with the egg. This would also have been nice with some Parmesan shavings or some grilled pancetta.

Lu's new camera has really come into its own, hasn't it! So worth it, look forward to our photos improving even more from here on in!

Steak Bearnaise

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Lets French!

or 
Mastering the Art of Butter

A few months ago Lu and I dragged my long suffering fella Colm along to see the ultimate foodie/chick flick Julie and Julia. By the end of the film he had to grudgingly admit that, actually, it was a pretty enjoyable film. So for Christmas this year Colm bought me a copy of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and inside was a ticket for two to Paris! Awww. So we are heading off on Thursday which had finally pushed me to blog this recipe, which I cooked from said book over a month ago for my friend Stuart.

Having read a good few of the recipes over the Christmas period, I came to the conclusion that Julia Child's main philosophy of cooking is as follows: 'First melt some butter. Then sauté some slices of butter in some more butter. Then add some chopped cubes of cold butter. Finish with some melted butter'

Anyway, Stuart is a good Naval man so I figured he would appreciate a steak. He arrived brandishing two bottles of Ruby port and proceeded to show Lu and I how to make the perfect Hot Port on the high seas. Then we drank them all. Oh dear.

Julia Child's sauce Bearnaise (straight and unedited from the horses mouth)

(NB- I recently invested in a set of American Cup measurements and teaspoon/tablespoons. They are invaluable and only cost 3 euro in Allrooms on Liffey st!)

(NB 2- I have used square and curley brackets to try to make a bit more sense of her extremely complicated recipes)

Ingredients

1/4 cup wine vinegar

1/4 cup dry white wine or dry white vermouth

1 Tb minced shallots or green onions

1 Tb minced fresh tarragon or 1/2 Tb dried tarragon

1/8tsp pepper

pinch of salt

a small saucepan

3 egg yolks

2 tb cold butter

1 Tb cold water

1 Tb lemon Juice

big pinch of salt

1 Tb cold Butter

1 [another] Tb cold butter

1/2 to 2/3 cup melted butter

2 tb fresh minced tarragon or parsley

For 1 1/2 cups

Boil the vinegar, wine, shallots or onions, herbs and seasonings over a moderate heat until the liquid has reduced to 2 tablespoons. Let it cool.

Then proceed as though making a hollandaise, page 79 [cut the butter into pieces and melt it in a saucepan over a moderate heat. Then set aside Beat the egg yolks for about a minute in the {other medium enamel or stainless steel} saucepan until they become thick and sticky. add the water, lemon juice and salt and beat for half a minute more.

Add a tb of cold butter, but do not beat in. Place the saucepan over very low heat or barely simmering water and stir the egg yolks with a wire whip until they slowly thicken into a smooth cream. This will take 1 to 2 minutes. If they seem to be thickening too quickly, or even suggest a lumpy quality, immediately plunge the bottom of the pan in cold water , beating the yolks to cool them. {I did this, it works!} Then continue beating over the heat. The egg yolks have thickened enough when you can begin to see the bottom of the pan between strokes, and the mixture forms a light cream on the wires of the whip.] Strain in the vinegar mixture and beat

[Immediately remove from the heat and beat in the cold butter [1tb, I presume] which will cool the egg yolks and stop their cooking. Then beating the egg yolks with a wire whip, pour on the melted butter by droplets or quarter-teaspoon-fuls until the sauce begins to thicken into a very heavy cream. Then pour the butter a little more rapidly. Omit the milky residue at the bottom of the butter pan.]

Correct seasoning and beat in the tarragon or parsley

Phew!!!

I know, a bit of a palaver but actually it wasn't that bad when I actually did it. I got the vinegar mixture done ahead of time, and beat up the eggs well before I cooked the steak. then when the steak was cooking I made the sauce. At the end, I de-glazed the steak pan with one Tb white wine, which technically makes this a sauce Colbert, according to Julia.

I served with sauteed potatoes cooked in a stupid amount of butter, another Julia recipe, and some steamed asparagus. It was really super delish. It would want to be after all that butter.

Here's my translation of the potato recipe into modern day parlance, I cant take any more of those brackets!

Sauteed Potatoes
2 lb small new potatoes, peeled

3 - 4 tbs clarified butter (melted and milk solids skimmed off so it can't burn)

pinch salt

Peel the potatoes but don't wash them after or during peeling. Dry them in a clean tea towel. Pour the butter into a heavy skillet or frying pan which has a tight fitting lid. Heat until very hot but not coloring, or until it begins to foam. Then ad the potatoes. Leave for two minutes. Then give them a shake every now and then so that they sear on all sides. Cook for another 5-8 mins. Sprinkle them with salt. Lower the heat, cover the skillet with the lid and cook for about 15 mins, shaking every now and then to prevent sticking and ensure even coloring. They are done when they yield slightly to the pressure of your finger, or when a knife pierces them easily.

Ok, so now on to the
Hot Ports

Stuart reckons that the only way to make a good hot port is as follows

1) In a large wine glass heat the glass with some boiling water (make sure you have a metal spoon or similar in there so you wont break the glass)

2) Pour in a double measure of ruby port

3) Get a teaspoon of muscavado sugar (it has to be muscavado)

4) Hold it over the glass while you pour boiling hot water over it and into the glass, this way the sugar melts into the port.

No cloves or lemons need apply

Voila!

Here's a pic of the book itself with its best friend, a big load of butter. {I had a full 500g package of butter before I started cooking this meal so this gives you an idea of how much I used!}

Asparagus and Parma Ham

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The last spear of summer

There has been a lot of talk recently about summer being over and there having been nothing but Rain for 3 months and nothing to look forward to now but winter... blah blah blah...

I wont tolerate this kind of talk, for me, summer is never officially over until After Electric Picnic, so that means there is still almost a whole week to go!!

Whatever about summer, I'm pretty sure that Asparagus season is over, so i felt a bit naughty buying these asparagus (aspsragi?) in Aldi last week... I know, Aldi, terrible terrible person, food miles, child labour, pesticides, etc etc... Anyway, they looked great so I got them out of season. Feck it.

These spears are trimmed, steamed for about 4 mins and then wrapped around with a couple of slices of good parma ham. Then I drizzles them with olive oil, sprinkled with Parmesan shavings, and Voila, a sophisticated, unbelievably delicious starter in 5 minutes. And it looks impressive too!

Try it out, only one week until the end of summer, then it could be TOO LATE!!!!!

Asparagus Risotto

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Green shoots!

Mum and I made this recipe about a month ago for my brother Jesse on his birthday. We served it with salad from the garden and some roasted veggies. Jesse and his wife Jessica are both vegetarians so Mum always has a little panic about feeding them, it usually turns out a bit eclectic but great in the end.

Don't be intimidated by risotto, its really easy to make, you just have to use common sense and keep tasting so you know to when its cooked or needs more stock. And keep stirring!

Ingredients: (Serves 4)

2 or 3 bunches of asparagus cut into inch-long chunks

400g Arborio rice

3 tbsp olive oil OR 2 oz butter

1 large wine glass full of dry white wine

1 L/1 3/4 pints good hot vegetable sock (or chicken stock if your not a veggie)

1 medium onion

2 cloves garlic

3 or 4 sticks of celery, very finely chopped

100g Sundried tomatoes, finely chopped

Grated parmesan cheese to top

method:

Finely chop the onion and the garlic. Melt the butter/heat the oil in a heavy bottomed frying pan. Saute the onion, celery and garlic until translucent. Don't allow it to brown. This is easier if you have a lid for your pan. Add the finely chopped sundried tomatoes, followed by the rice and stir to mix everything well.

Keep your stock warm in a pot on the stove next to your pan. Add the wine to the rice and stir until almost all the liquid is absorbed. make sure the heat is not too high, it should just be gently bubbling. After this, add a ladle of the stock at a time and stir between each addition until the liquid is almost absorbed. After about 20 mins the rice will be almost cooked. It might not be necessary to use all the stock so keep tasting the rice. When it feels almost done to you, stop adding stock. It should be nicely moist, and a touch under cooked (even if you like it al dente). Then add your asparagus and one last ladle full of stock. Stir everything together until the asparagus is bright green and the stock has almost absorbed again (don't let it get too dry). remove from the heat so that no more of the liquid evaporates. You can finish it at this point by mixing in a few knobs of butter and/or some cheese (parmesan is good but you can use a few different ones, whatever you have left over in the fridge) Alternatively, like we did you can be more healthy and just finish by stirring in a good dollop of olive oil. Check the seasoning now and and add some salt and pepper if necessary. Then sprinkle with a grated parmesan.

Happy Bruv

You can make the basic risotto (risotto bianco) by forgoing the tomatoes and just using the butter, garlic and onion.

Other great combinations for risotto include:

quatro formaggio (4 cheeses, whichever ones you like!)

Blue cheese and herbs such as sage or rosemary

dried/ wild mushrooms (nicer if you use a beef stock)

home made pesto