EVERYTHING UNDER THE KITCHEN SINK

YOU MAY THINK I'M JOKING when I say everything under the kitchen sink, but we all know what it's like to have a variety of "things" in the refrigerator which you just, quite simply, cannot throw out! When I get to that point, especially when the weather turns inclement, i.e., bitterly cold, I immediately think of one of the best comfort foods for any Italian with brains: LASAGNA!

LASAGNA

 It does look rather delicious, doesn't it? Here's how this all came about. Right after New Year's - about a week or so actually - I made Osso Buco. Then I made some braised fennel in chicken broth with sage and saffron. Then I roasted eggplant because it had to be used or else. So, without so much as a "wait one second," I started rolling out pasta dough! (That's the easiest part of this recipe!) If you don't want to do it or can't the store bought types to go for are either Del Verde (they come in square crinkled sheets) or the Barilla "Oven-Ready" Lasagna.  So, that said, let's start with a 13" x 9" lasagna pan (preferable ceramic). Lightly oil the bottom and sides and set aside. I should interject here that this lasagna is made in the Bolognese tradition which uses two sauces: a red Ragú with meat (in this case veal) and a Becciamella (pronounced baysha-MAY-la) sauce with vegetables and Parmesan cheese added. In most cases spinach is used and sometimes a meat such as mortadella but in this case, I used what I had in the fridge so I added the braised fennel and sauteed baby kale. 

If you've made Osso Buco with a red sauce, half the battle is over since all you'll have to do it take the meat and grind it or chop it or better yet, process in a Cuisinart. Put back in the red sauce and heat up to warm and add 1/4 cup of baby peas. Set aside. 

You can process the braised fennel as well and add it, along with the green vegetable, to the Bechamel Sauce which is made as follows:

Preheat the oven to 400º.

In a small saucepan, heat 2 cups of whole milk to the simmer. While the milk is heating up, melt 4 tbl. of unsalted butter on medium high heat in a medium-sized saucepan. When the butter has melted, is bubbling and has turned the color of amber add 4 tbl. of flour. Stir this with a wooden spoon and turn the heat down to medium and continue to stir until all the flour has been incorporated into the butter and the mixture takes on a nutty color. Immediately add the heated milk, turn the heat up to high and whisk until the mixture comes to the boiling point. Boil for about 5-6 seconds or until the sauce becomes very thick. Remove from heat, add salt and white pepper, a dash of nutmeg to taste. Add the kale (or spinach), fennel and parmesan. If the sauce is too thick, drizzle in some milk until you have a smooth consistency. Dot top with pieces of butter. At this point you should make an assembly line of ingredients in their respective pots surrounding the lasagna dish. 

Ladle some of the Ragù on the bottom and place the first layer of pasta on top of that. Add more Ragù on top of the pasta sheet and place a couple of slices of eggplant on top of that. Place more pasta on top and ladle some of the Bechamel on top of that. Sprinkle some cheese on top (or add pieces of leftover cheese on top; sometimes if I have Taleggio or Fontina, I put that in as well). Continue to make layers as before, using up the eggplant with the Ragù and alternating with the Bechamel until all the sheets are used up. As you get closer to the end, you'll need to gauge the amount of sauce you use so everything is used up (Bechamel does not keep and is horrible reheated). Just make sure you pour all of the Bechamel on top of the last layer of white sauce and all the Ragù on the very top of the lasagna. Drizzle about 1/2 cup of heavy cream all around the sides of the pan. Dot the lasagna with pieces of fresh mozzarella and place a few toothpicks or small metal skewers into the lasagna so you can tent the pan with aluminum foil to avoid melted cheese sticking to the foil. Place the lasagna pan on a large roasting sheet pan lined with lots of aluminum foil. 

Bake for 40 minutes and remove the foil from the top. Bake for another 15-20 minutes. The top should be a golden brown and the sauce should be bubbling at the edges. If you see any signs of melted grease accumulating at the edges, you've baked it too long so it's advisable that you  keep a close eye on the lasagna after you've removed the foil. Remove the lasagna from the oven and allow to cool for about 15 minutes to settle. It will be much easier to cut if it rests a bit.

Serves at least 8 people as a main course or you can make smaller portions and feed 12-14 as a first course.

Glorious Lasagna

Buon appetito!!!

A BIRTHDAY DINNER

EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE, we all make something that is a complete and rousing success, and it isn't often that I make a sumptuous meal at someone else's home, but I do for very special people. One such person's birthday was in early December, but because I had performances and the holidays (you all know what that's all about), we had to postpone until very recently and last Friday night was it! It was also a way for me to make a debut performance in the newly upgraded kitchen with more equipment than even I have! Someone at dinner mentioned that eating chez lui was almost better than eating in a fancy restaurant only because you know precisely what you're eating and precisely who has touched the food and what's been put into it (I find all restaurant food extremely salty and don't know HOW some people can eat in restaurants every day). That does not mean that we didn't walk away from the table feeling somewhat bilious (don't you love that word?) after all the rich food. And rich it was!

POTS AND MORE POTS

LE CREUSET GALORE

We started with Oysters Rockefeller (see my very first blog entry - September 11, 2012).

OYSTEERS ROCKEFELLER

and then moved on to the main course:

Grilled Veal Chops
Sweet and White Potatoes au Gratin
Roasted Acorn Squash

GRILLED VEAL CHOPS

POMMES DAUPHINOISE

ROASTED ACORN SQUASH

and finally, an Omelet Soufflé with Apples Flambé

OMELET SOUFFLÉ

All of it served with the most delicious Prosecco I've ever tasted!

So, Happy Birthday and Buon Appetito!

You'll note that I've changed the motif. It was inspired by the frigid temps we are now experiencing here in New York. Winter has arrived (very late indeed) and all we need now is our own sort of  Mont Blanc or Everest to keep us home baking cookies!

Grilled Veal Chops

Serves Two

Marinate 2 veal chops (3 fingers wide) in a mixture of olive oil, 2 minced cloves of garlic, several sprigs of fresh rosemary and ground black pepper. Place in a zip lock back with the chops and let marinate in the fridge for 24 hours.

Meanwhile, make a herbed salt mixture with:

6 tablespoons kosher salt

Grated rind of one lemon

One large sprig fresh rosemary (needles removed from bark)

4 leaves fresh sage

12 pepper corns

2 large cloves garlic

Place half the salt and all other ingredients in a food processor and process until all ingredients resemble a form of pesto without any oil. Remove from food processor canister and place in a bowl. Add the remaining salt and rub both sides of the veal chop with the salt mixture. Let sit for at least 2 hours.

When you are ready to grill, heat the pan until it is very hot. (Sprinkle some water on it; if it sizzles, it's ready.) Grill on each side for 4 minutes and then grill the side with the strip of fat standing on its side. (I grill all sides to get a good sear to the meat.) When the chops are done, let rest for 5 minutes and serve.

Roasted Acorn Squash

Take two Squash and cut in half. Remove all seeds and cut the bottoms slightly to allow the squash to sit upright without leaning. Sprinkle the cavities with some salt, place 1 tablespoon of brown sugar, 1-1/2 tablespoons of unsalted butter, two turns of a black pepper mill, and a dash of nutmeg in each cavity. Place on a foil lined roasting pan or a ceramic dish and bake for at least one hour in a 400º oven. The squash should be a deep amber color  when baked. Before serving, cut the squash into quarters and serve.

Pommes Dauphinoise with White and Sweet Potatoes

2 cloves of smashed garlic

2 large white potatoes

1 medium sweet potatoes

Unsalted butter

1 pint heavy cream

Salt and Pepper

In an oval au gratin dish, rub the smashed garlic all over the dish. Grease the pan with some softened butter.

Peel the potatoes and slice with a mandoline on the thinnest setting possible. Start with a layer of white potatoes and line the entire bottom of the dish. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on the potatoes and dot with some butter. Do the same with the sweet potato (there should be enough for one layer) and then again with the white potato. Pour the entire pint of cream over the potatoes and place on a foil lined roasting pan and back in a 400º oven for about 50-60 minutes. The cream should be very thick and bubbling and look like cheese (the cream does indeed turn to cheese when it reaches an internal temperature of 375º). Allow to cool somewhat and serve.

Omelet Soufflé with Apples Flambé

This recipe comes from Paula Wolfert in her cookbook on the cuisine of Southwest France. She is always a trusty source for something delicious.

2 eggs

butter

1/4 cup sugar

pinch of salt

confectioners sugar

3 apples

Rum or Brandy

2 tbl. raspberry jelly (seedless)

I had some homemade raspberry jelly in the fridge so decided to use that instead of the fresh berries that were called for in the original recipe. I didn't have berries in the house so I used apples instead but added the jelly with the booze.

Prepare the apples by peeling, coring and cutting into fine slices. Melt some butter in a pan, add 1/2 of the sugar and the apples and sauté until the apples become very soft and take on a dark color. Add the jelly to heat and then flambé the mixture and let the liquor burn off. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 425º F.

Separate the eggs and place each part in separate bowls. Beat the egg yolks with half the amount of sugar and the salt until they take on a very pale color. If whisking by hand, this should take about 5 minutes. After that, beat the whites with a whisk until soft peaks are formed. Place 1/4 of the egg white mixture into the egg yolks and mix thoroughly, then fold in the rest of the egg whites.

In an oval pan or a good omelet pan with deep sides (preferably copper) melt some butter until the butter bubbles and starts to turn a golden color. Add the egg mixture and fry like an omelet allowing the egg to form a crust on the bottom and sides, but without browning the bottom (about 2 minutes, possibly less). Add the apple mixture directly in the center of the omelet and place the pan on the middle rack of the oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until the omelet has puffed and turned a golden brown on top.

When omelet is finished, remove from the oven and dust with powdered sugar and serve immediately with a double espresso!

ONWARDS AND UPWARDS WITH THE HOLIDAYS . . . !

THERE WAS SOMETHING bordering on dread when Thanksgiving reared its warbling neck. I'm sure you've all felt the same way when contemplating how differently you can present the perennial gobbler and cranberry sauce plus all the other trimmings that happily parade their way across the dinner table. It is also fitting that this entry, late as it is, should appear on the 12th day of Christmas. A true ending to a glorious season!

Grapefruit Ice with Gin

Last Thanksgiving, I really wanted to entertain in my tiny apartment - my first big dinner party of import, but the projected 8 or 9 people (which included the usual stray or two or three) seemed completely unrealistic, so it ended up being a small affair for the immediate family as it were. Did that mean I had to dispense with ambition, forego imagination, allow the withering knee to dictate form and function? Hardly! 

With visions of Turkey Pot Pie for the Saturday after Thanksgiving (which never really materialized) the Thanksgiving menu began to take shape! Let's start from the end and work our way to the front of the meal, shall we? I always bake the sweets and make the desserts first before any dinner party so it's always a good idea to make a list of items that you want to present to your guests (there should be many). I should interject here that after entertaining on Thanksgiving, the day after and the day after that, I vowed not to cook for Christmas and I held true to my word. However, that did not prevent me from baking up a storm so there will be plenty of pictures here to testify to my efforts. 

Beginning as I said from the end we did indeed have quite a feast. I have written about most of these things in the past so the recipes are in the blog - all you need do is search!

Brownies

Pecan Fingers

Apple Tart

Bread and Butter Pudding

Torta di Ricotta with Pistachios and Candied Orange Peal
A Sicilian Christmas Buccelatto (Pastry Ring)
Sesame Seed Cookies flavored with Anise
Potato Chip Cookies
and
Sicilian Tetú

Clockwise: Ricotta Torte with the Cross of Saint James, Apple Tart and
James Beard's Bread and Butter Pudding made with home made pound cake and Apricot Jam

Turkey with Stuffing and Cranberry Sauce

Mashed Potatoes

Roasted Vegetables: 
Carrots, Mushrooms, Onions, and  

Brussels Sprouts

Turkey with all the trimmings!

A grapefruit ice (granita) pictured above.

Acorn Squash Soup with Smoked Trout (no pictures, but let me tell you, it was delicious!)

But looking on to Christmas, the time for baking was at hand and for the week before Christmas I did several marathon-like sessions focusing on the Sicilian kitchen, thus producing something like 600 cookies.

Scimino cookies (anise dough with encrusted sesame seeds. chocolate cookies called Tetús, Pecan Fingers, Brownies, and my mother's own Potato Chip cookies. Once I complete the chocolate cookies this morning, I said: "that's it! I'm done!"

BROWNIES

PECAN FINGERS

ANISE AND SESAME SEED COOKIES (PERFECT FOR DUNKING!)

POTATO CHIP COOKIES

But am I? There was eventually a couple of Buccelatti down the path somewhere for Christmas Day. 

BUCCELATTO

Rather than keep you all waiting for the recipes, which I will definitely provide, I'm going to publish this today if only for the pleasure of giving you many visuals to savor!

Now that we are in 2016, I'm detoxing from carbs and sugar and have started a massive diet to shed at least the 20+ pounds I gained since last October! Wish me luck and buon appetito!

KITCHENS

OVER THE YEARS, I'VE HAD MANY KITCHENS. There have been 30-foot kitchens with as many cabinets and islands, tiny kitchens with no counter space whatsoever; I've even had kitchens which served as a wall in a living room. The fact is, one can do almost anything in any kind of kitchen if dictated by necessity. 

When I was growing up, we had electric appliances and it was on those stoves and ovens that I learned how to cook. I barreled my way through Julia Child and a lot of La Technique by Jacques Pepin on a GE electric stove in my parents' home. It was a challenge, trust me. In Italy, I had a makeshift kitchen (I was a student after all) but there was a gas stove (finally!). one Christmas in Bologna, I made a duck, pommes dauphinoise and stuffed artichokes on that tiny stove; it was a labor of love. In Holland, I had three different kitchens ranging from those old-style cavernous rooms with a vaulted ceiling and a huge work table in the middle - all of it facing a cow field - to a state of the art modern (this was 1979) kitchen with all the bells and whistles and a terrace overlooking the Maas River on which to sit and have breakfast while gazing at the boats streaming by. Here in New York, still a student, one had to make do with what one is given and so, my first kitchen was a Pepto Bismo pink kitchen (probably the 102nd coat of paint)  with appliances that dated back to the Great Depression (definitely not frost free!). Since then, I've had a French country kitchen with a window over the sink overlooking the back of a church and courtyard (in midtown Manhattan mind you!) and 31 kitchen cabinets; a two-room kitchen with huge windows; and a wall for a kitchen with 3 cabinets and no counters whatsoever. How we suffer at times for culinart! I've never had a kitchen with granite counter tops. With all the rage for all this stone, I consider myself lucky to have a ceramic tile floor. However, were I to consider granite, I'd have marble first but even better than that, I'd have Corian. It takes a beating, lasts forever and cleans up so incredibly well.

My latest kitchen is probably my smallest kitchen but it has everything one could desire: lots of cabinets, enough counter space to make the kitchen serviceable and great appliances. Space in Manhattan - in New York City in general; it matters not which boro - is a rare and very highly priced commodity so my huge walk-in closet serves as a great storage space for pots and pans, appliances like blenders and stand mixers as well as roasting pans, platters, cake pans, etc. All things considered, I would have to say that this kitchen is the best kitchen I've ever had (along with the French kitchen in midtown). It's perfect for one person but definitely not a two-person kitchen (unless, of course, the two cooks are in perfect sympathy and harmony with each other - a rarity indeed!). Of course, none of this would be the case were it not for my indefatigable dishwasher. Dishwashers are a great thing. They wash dishes to the point of sterilization but they also have the dual talent for hiding dirty dishes as well as making clean up a very speedy task indeed.

Last night, I had a few small pieces of bread (which I had baked the other day) fried in olive oil and smeared with some blue cheese along with two scrambled eggs. It was delicious; especially with a dollop of strawberry jam (also homemade) on  the eggs. I used a small cast iron skillet to fry the bread and afterwards scrambled the eggs in the same pan re-greased with a pat of unsalted butter. The pan was so hot that the eggs heated perfectly. In fact, they cooked so quickly that they were done in literally seconds and didn't stick to the pan at all. I always find it difficult to keep scrambled eggs from sticking to the bottom of any pan so this was a positive delight for me. The combination of blue cheese with eggs and strawberry jam may sound odd, but I assure you, it's delicious. It is definitely not one of those "I was so hungry moments" that one will eat anything. The sweet of the jam definitely complimented the savory of the blue cheese. Try it, you may find it as delicious as I do.

The other day, I boiled some baby octopus and made a salad with white cannelini beans, red onions, some celery and avocados in some really good vinegar and oil. It was amazing. You can use a can of beans or boil your own, which I do and keep refrigerated for just such an occasion. You don't have to serve these to friends but can keep it around for when you want something fabulous instead of sugar. Trust me, it works!

Boil about a pound of octopus in salted water with a few peppercorns, 2 or 3 bay leaves and a lemon halved. I boil the buggers for about 2 hours. Drain and rinse under cold water while rubbing off most of the dark skin. I remove the heads and cut the octopi in half (see photo). 

If you're using canned beans, pour into a sieve and drain and rinse with cold water. Put into a bowl with one medium red onion thinly sliced, an avocado cut into medium dice, salt pepper and one smashed clove of garlic. I dice the celery but not to finely because the crunch makes a nice contrast to the softness of the beans and the resilient bounce of the octopus. Dress with vineger and oil, salt pepper and some fresh thyme or oregano.  Decorate with the octopus and some chopped parsley and toss before serving. 

Buon appetito!

TIMBALLO DI MELANZANE

A couple of New Year's Eves ago, I made a timballo   (see my entry on December 28, 2012) with monkfish. That recipe was adapted from Venezia Food and Dreams by Tessa Kiros and it was only natural that, coming from Venice, fish should be a predominant ingredient. 

This recipes comes from Katie Caldesi's extraordinary Italian "cookery" book called Cook Italy and is reminiscent of the south, primarily Sicily,  Earlier this summer, I decided to make a timballo (Italian for timpani; or in the shape of a drum, but in this case, something encasing pasta, be it pasta sheets, a  vegetable or even rice) made with eggplant and here is what I got! 

The process is rather easy if you know what you're doing, but painstaking nevertheless. Basically what you're doing is preparing eggplant (either pan frying or roasting) to make the thin slices malleable enough to bend to your will in order to line a mold or cake pan (in my case I used a shallow circular ceramic casserole dish) to prepare the outer shell.

This dish serves 8 as a first course or 4 as a main course. 

For the shell:

2 medium sized eggplants sliced in long slices

EVOO

Flour (N.B.)

Dredge the slices of eggplant and pan fry them on both sides salting for seasoning as you go. Saute both side but do not burn, you want them to soften but not cook completely through. Once you have sauteed the eggplant slices, line the bottom of the casserole dish making sure to overlap the slices and ensuring that the slices extend well over the edge (you will want the overlapping slices to close over the filling, thus making a "drum"). I put circular slices at the bottom of the casserole dish over the inside edges of the longer slices to make a sealed top. 

N.B. Roasting the eggplant on baking sheets lined with parchment paper is infinitely more easy (and you don't need to use the flour) but you must watch the oven constantly and no more that 20 minutes tops at 425º. Either way, you will end up using copious amounts of olive oil.

Preheat the oven to 350º and place a rack in the middle of the oven.

For the pasta filling

1-1 1/2 pounds pasta (I prefer using 3 types: farfalle, rigatoni, penne

Tomato sauce

Grated Cheese (your choice but I mix with Parmesan, Provolone, Romano)
and any or all of the following:

Breadcrumbs

Mozzarella

Sausage

Pine Nuts
Peas

2-3 tbs. heavy cream

Cook the pasta in a great big covered pot filled with lots of water. Salt generously when the water comes to a boil. Add the past and cover the pot (it helps to bring the water back to the boil faster). Remove cover once the water is boiling and stir frequently. Cook until al dente.

Dress the pasta with tomato sauce and add the ingredients above (you can omit some or add something of your own choice - the mixture can vary). Once the pasta mixture is dressed to your liking, add it to the mold, drizzle the cream around the edges of the mold and fold over the eggplant hanging over the sides of the casserole. Add any leftover eggplant in the center to completely encase the mold. Place the dish on a roasting sheet and place in the oven. Bake for 25 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to test for 20 minutes before cutting or let it rest for several hours and serve it lukewarm. This dish, like lasagna needs time to rest so the slices are clean. It also refrigerates well and is terrific reheated the next day.

Buon appetito!

MORE GELATO!

LAST YEAR (October 6th to be exact), I wrote about Gelato. Since then, I've made quite a lot of the stuff, especially during these scorching and very long hot days of summer. I know that I've been extremely lazy where writing in this blog is concerned, but truth be told, I've been battling some pretty health issues where sitting at a computer and typing prevented me from writing. Be that as it may, now that I'm back, I'd like to voice some other thoughts on gelato, something which, as I mentioned previously, has become almost second nature to me. It is the season to write about such things especially since mercury has been above 90 since just about forever! Ironically, the weather today is holding gloriously at a mere 75º F. with a balmy breeze. It is also the first day I've been able to turn the air conditioner off since May. It must be September. Take that Consolidated Edison!

I've been experimenting quite a bit with new flavors and new ways of getting the consistency I want (one that is just frozen and yet malleable with the ice cream scoop). The basic premise is the same:

2 cups milk

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup powdered skim milk

3 tbs. light corn syrup

whisked together and heated to 180º.

While heating the milk, take 
1 tsp. powdered gelatin
and bloom it in a very little bit of cold water

Remove from the stove to cool.
Once the milk has cooled, add:

1 cup heavy cream

1 tbs. vanilla extract

and whatever flavor you wish to make your gelato.

Once you have chilled this mixture for at least 6 hours (preferably overnight) you can make the gelato in an electric ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. 

Pictured above, is a small dish of Cannoli Gelato; a flavor I've been dreaming about making for quite a while now. I experimented last year with ricotta and fig and honey, even goat cheese and ricotta but it never came close to what I had envisioned as a truly original gelato. 

This recent experiment proved to be exceptional in every way. The delicacy of home made ricotta mixed with powdered sugar and candied fruit added to simple gelato base was more than I had ever expected. Not to gild the lily, oh well, yes, to gild the lily, I added pistachio marmalade.

For a completely singular and absolutely gorgeous gelato, all you need do is add the following mixture to your gelato base   before refrigeration and churn away!

1 cup fresh ricotta cheese

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. orange extract

1 handful of chopped candied cherries and citron

2 tsp. minced candied orange or lemon peel

1/2 cup pistachio marmalade (recipe to follow)

Place ricotta, sugar, vanilla and orange extracts in the canister of a food processor and blend until very smooth. Remove from canister and place in mixing bowl and fold in fruits and pistachio marmalade. Stir into gelato base until completely blended (no lumps) and refrigerate overnight.

Pistachio Marmalade

1 cup shelled pistachios

Pour boiling water onto the pistachios and let sit for about 3 or 4 minutes. Drain and place on a clean, dry dish towel and rub them around until the skins come off. Let the nuts dry for several hours or overnight. Place the green nuts in a spice grinder and grind with 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar for about 1 minute until you have a fine powder.

Bring 2 cups sugar and 1/2 cup water to a boil in a small saucepan. Once the sugar is completely dissolved, add the pistachio powder and cook until the liquid becomes a very thick paste (or marmalade). 

This should yield about 1 cup of marmalade. Add half the mixture to the gelato mixture when adding the other fruit. You can reserve the remaining pistachio marmalade for another use, cannoli of course! The marmalade will keep in the fridge for about 2-3 weeks.

ASPARAGUS!

IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN when asparagus, both green and white rear their gorgeous stalks into the green markets, grocery stores and ultimately, the kitchen or dining room. In Holland, Germany and Belgium, May is the month when many festivals in local farming villages - not to mention major metropolises - are held in honor of the woody spears. Some villages even crown young ladies Queen of the Asparagus Festival. This dates back hundreds of years and comes down from a long held tradition. I wonder if the Druids celebrated asparagus in some sacrificial rite!? 

Asparagus dates as far back as 3000 B.C. with the Egyptians.  But it is to the Europeans in general that we owe much thanks for the cultivation of asparagus on a grand scale.  White asparagus is much more prevalent in Europe than here in America, where it is also more expensive than its green counterpart. Besides its generally sweeter flavor, the only difference between white and green is the fact that white asparagus is "grounded" (covered in dirt) and cultivated out of the sun. I am an avid white asparagus nut and eat it every chance I get. With butter and chopped hard boiled egg, with Hollandaise Sauce, with Veal Oscar (the best!) but somehow, the simplest way is most ideal, unadorned except for a sprinkling of olive oil and vinegar or drizzled with butter. Eaten with some boiled potatoes and a thick slice of boiled ham . . . OMG! The best! And then, of course, there is Risotto with Asparagus, also deliciously delicate. I once made a Lasagna with Asparagus as a first course for one of my Thanksgiving feasts. There was nothing left.

STEAMED ASPARAGUS

To steam one pound of asparagus, chop off about 1/5 (almost an inch or so) of the tough bark at the bottom of each stem, leaving anywhere from 5-8 inches of the stalk. Take a potato peeler and, holding the top of the spear very carefully, gently peel away the skin, turning as you go (see photo above). Once all the asparagus has been trimmed, take some kitchen twine and tie the asparagus into one bundle.  Tie another piece of twine at the opposite end and then connect the leftover twine so you create a handle with the twine. 

If you have a tall narrow asparagus steamer, wonderful! If not, fill a large pot with water and bring it to the boil. Add 1 tablespoon of Kosher salt and add the asparagus. Cover the poi to bring it back to the boil as quickly as possible and then lower the heat and cook uncovered for about 7 minutes. Once you have even the faintest whiff of asparagus, remove them from the water and bathe them in cold water for about 10 seconds to stop them from cooking.

With these asparagus, you can add any of the following sauces:

Melted butter
Hollandaise Sauce
Lemon vinaigrette
Vinegar and Oil with salt and pepper

If you wish to make risotto, reserve about 5 stalks of the cooked asparagus and cut the stalks on the bias but reserve the tops in a separate bowl for finishing the risotto. You can make basic risotto or you can follow my recipe for risotto con asparagus and piselli here: http://paoloknows.blogspot.com/search?q=risotto.

RISOTTO CON ASPARAGI

THERE IS also one more of the endless possibilities which is so good - Roasted Asparagus wrapped in bacon, or pancetta or ham, or even mortadella and served with poached eggs. A creative way to eat something delicious without eating any carbohydrates.

Bon appetito!