It's Asparagus time once again

 

The darling buds of a Bordeaux vineyard

Returning from a brief sortie into Bordeaux yesterday Lesley and I paused at a vineyard on the outskirts of the city.  Here we decided on an impromptu lunch hunkered down amongst the vines enjoying a crispy baguette, filled with a few slices of 18 month old Comté and dressed with a bit of home made chutney.  Whilst in reflective mood we both commented on the advanced state of the foliage and bud developement as a warm sun belted out its heat onto the vines. I am sure the chateâu owners and vignerons are going through a tense time at the moment.  With everything so advanced the last thing they want now is a late frost and this is entirely possible at least up until the beginning of May.  On verra, as they say.  

 

A much better way than buying asparagus with a carbon footprint

A few kilometers further on, as the Gironde department peters out and the Dordogne opens up, Lesley and I passed the farm of M. Philippe Bernard.  It lies on the D5 at La Poste Puymangou mid-way between La Roche Chalais and St-Aulaye.  This is a busy time of year for M. Bernard for he is a grower of asparagus and this is the season.  It does not last long coming to an end (for him) on June 4th so it's a case of making hollandaise sauce while the sun shines. 

 

Local printers always find something to print, a bit like bloggers!

As any asparagus afficionado will tell you nothing goes better with a plate of young, succulent and tender asparagus than a carefully prepared hollandaise sauce and one should look no further than Elizabeth David's feted cookbook 'French Provincial Cooking' for the definitive recipe.  She eschewed the purists who claimed that a true hollandaise sauce should consist of nothing but butter, egg yolks and lemon juice and suggests, and Liz has my full support here, a preliminary reduction of white wine or vinegar.  The sharpness of a reduced white wine is the perfect balance to this sauce and I can't imagine it any other way.

 

Monsieur Bernard and his ancient scales

 I have just come across another asparagus recipe 'Gratin d'asperges au Jambon' in a book called 'Essential French Cookery' published by Chancellor Press.  It dispenses with the hollandaise sauce and suggests a creamy cheese sauce poured over the aspargus which has been wrapped in  a few slices of choice ham. On this occasion we served our asparagus with a Bergerac dry white wine; a Montravel 2007 from Chateâu Tuquet Monceau;  a crisp distinct white with peary undertones.  What a fantastic marriage.  So what better time to get inventive with your asparagus.  But my advice is, always take time out and search for the small growers who sell direct from their farms and who can also be found in many of our local markets which abound in the Dordogne. Also try and avoid supermarket asparagus which in general will not be as fresh having to undergo a long road journey up from the fields of Morocco or southern Spain.

 

 Seasonal food, much appreciated, why? because it's seasonal!

 

Using the correct pan and sieve keeps the asparagus tips firm whilst avoiding a 'woody' rear end