Sprang!

Time for some of my favorites to return. Warm mushroom salad and asparagus soup. I added peas to the soup to preserve the color. You can get the recipes here and here.

Veggie Pizza

Shiitake mushroom and asparagus pizza on whole wheat dough, with a sprinkling of truffle salt.

Tub Salad

Doesn't sound very glamorous, but "tub salad" is what I'm calling this excellent lunch I made the other day. I based the recipe on the Smoked Salmon with Egg Salad and Green Beans recipe from Gourmet magazine, substituting thin, steamed asparagus for the green beans. Using three free range extra large eggs, dill and extra mustard, I made egg salad which topped off this four layer salad. Packed nicely in a 3-cup Gladware container, it was a compact and immensely satisfying patio lunch on a sunny afternoon.

Chicken Asparagus Salad

Maybe it was because I was feeling a little under the weather today, maybe it was the rain finally reappearing after weeks of sun....but when I finally tossed everything together for this salad, I nearly fainted from the deliciousness. Using a roast chicken from Safeway cut back on a big chunk of time, so dinner was done in under half an hour. The salad can be served hot or cold, which makes it a good lunch for work the next day.

Asparagus and Almond Salad with Chicken from Breakfast Lunch Tea - The Many Little Meals of Rose Bakery

Serves 6
- 18 asparagus spears, trimmed
- 1 handful of whole almonds, skinned
- 6 skinless boneless chicken breasts
- extra virgin olive oil, for frying chicken
- salt and ground black pepper
- arugula, for garnish

For the dressing
- 2 shallots, finely diced
- 4 tbsps red wine vinegar
- 2 large handfuls chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- salt and ground black pepper
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 350F degrees.

Place asparagus in simmering water and cook for about 5 minutes until the spears are just cooked. Drain and set aside to cool. Meanwhile, place almonds in a roasting pan with a little olive oil and roast for about 15 minutes--until they're golden. Set aside to cool. Fry or grill the chicken breasts until they are cooked through. Season with salt & pepper.

Cut the asparagus into 3 - 4 cm pieces. Slice the chicken breasts diagonally into four or five pieces (I just hand shredded them). I also decided to chop up the almonds as well. Make the dressing by combining the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well, adding oil at the end. Carefully fold in the chicken, asparagus and almonds into the dressing and garnish with arugula.

Asparagus Egg Redux

I made asparagus and egg again, this time I sped up the process by frying the asparagus in a pan filled with grapeseed oil. Tossed it with breadcrumbs, salt and pepper and transferred them to a plate. Then I cracked an egg into the remains in the pan, cranked up the burner for a few quick minutes and slid the egg on top of my asparagus heap letting the yolk run. Add some more fresh cracked pepper on top. Eat by dipping the toasty asparagus segments into the yolky mixture. Mmmm.

Asparagus & Proscuitto Sandwich

Yum, two of my favorite things, now in a sandwich. I made David Leite's asparagus and proscuitto tea sandwich today, using garlic & herbs cream cheese instead of just plain whipped cream cheese. For the bread, I used two generous slices of Pan e Formaggio's Rosemary and Garlic. The sandwich was good, with a nice crunch from the asparagus. After I finished it, I had the wicked idea of frying the proscuitto-wrapped spears next time, before sandwiching them.

Eggs, again

Hooray for these extra long weekends, because I can't stop. Especially when it comes to making full use of the ingredients I have on hand. Today, I layered asparagus stems along the bottom with proscuitto and parmesan, saving the spears to partially fence the outer rim. More parmesan on top. The possibilities are endless--I'm already looking forward to next weekend, when I can throw in some mushrooms and cream, or salami and basil!

Asparagus & Egg

Tonight's light dinner: roast spring asparagus and egg. I've seen versions of this dish everywhere lately and I love asparagus, so this was a no brainer. Snap off the tough ends of asparagus, drizzle in olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast in the oven for about 8-10 minutes. Meanwhile, my egg poaching skills aren't up to snuff yet, so I just fried an egg. Toss the roasted asparagus in some breadcrumbs, slide the egg on top with some mozzarella shavings (next time I'll probably get some asiago), some dill and paprika and a bowl of roasted red pepper soup on the side. I'll try my hand at poaching again with eggs florentine sometime, but tonight's minimum fuss dinner just tides me over the grief of Jesse L. Martin's departure from L&O last night. Sigh.