June 2003 Archives

A refreshing dish for a hot day like today. Serves 2.

• 500g asparagus spears
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• ½ teaspoon fresh thyme or 1 teasponn dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped onion
• 1 finely chopped clove garlic
• ½ teaspoon salt
• pepper
• 25ml red wine vinegar
• 25ml olive oil
• 50ml sunflower oil
• 3 teaspoons finely chopped chives
• 150g shrimps without shells

Cut the base of the asparagus stalks and peel them until about half way up the stalks. Tie them together with string and cook them for about 15 minutes in salted water. Get them out of the pan, rinse under cold water, then put them in the fridge to let them cool down.

In a bowl, mix the mustard, thyme, onion, garlic, salt, pepper and vinegar. Slowly pour the two oils over the mixture, whisking vigorously all the time to produce a smooth vinaigrette.

Mix the shrimps and the chopped chives.

Arrange half the asparagus stalks on a plate, pour half the vinaigrette over it, then put the half the shrimps on top of it. Serve with some bread and a fresh white wine.

As the asparagus season is almost over, this dish can also be prepared with leeks instead of asparagus. Simply remove the dark green leaves from the leeks, boil them for 20 minutes, season with lemon juice and let them cool down in the fridge. Then proceed as with the asparagus recipe.

I had this recently, and it's a feast, although it's almost too simple to prepare to warrant a recipe of its own. Still, as it's asparagus season, here we go (serves two):

• 500g asparagus
• sugar
• salt
• balsamic vinegar
• 200g thinly sliced gravad lax (Swedish marinated salmon with dill)
• 1 piece horseradish

Cut the base ends off the asparagus, then peel about two thirds up the stalks. Tie about half the stalks together with string, so that you have two bunches of asparagus (this is important so you can get them out of the pot later).

In a large pot, bring salted, sugared water to the boil, then put in the asparagus and let simmer until very tender, up to 20 minutes. Remove asparagus from the pot, cut the strings and let them dry and cool a bit.

Arrange the gravad lax (salmon) on one half of a plate and grate the horseradish over it. Put the asparagus on the other half; gently pour a little balsamic vinegar over the asparagus stalks, but make sure it doesn't mingle with the fish.

Serve with white bread and a glass of dry, fresh white wine like a young Austrian Grüner Veltliner.

(If you don't have gravad lax, smoked salmon will do, although this has a less subtle taste. If you don't have balsamic vinegar, you can use other kinds of vinegar, but again this might taste too intense. Also avoid wines that are too fruity or too sweet.)