Spring Is Here!

Hello again!

It is spring and spring means ASPARAGUS! We are avid asparagus lovers, but decided a couple of years ago only to eat it when it is in season locally. It appears at the farmer's market for about a month when it's in season. It is so delicious! Barbara Kingsolver, in her book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle convinced us to wait until the spring to eat asparagus. It's better for the earth: since it hasn't been shipped from South America or California we are not paying for shipping. In other words, local, in-season asparagus (or any food for that matter) is not gas-guzzling, carbon-monoxide emitting food. Plus, it tastes better fresh. There's nothing like it!

Barbara Kingsolver also taught us to cook asparagus with mushrooms, something we had never thought of before. Wild morel mushrooms are available at the same time as the asparagus. Morels are AMAZING! However, if you don't know where to forage for them yourself, they are very expensive. You can substitute crimini or shitake for them.

Mark Bittman wrote an article called The Flavor of Spring in the Wednesday, May 13, 2009 New York Times (D2). He wrote, "In an ideal world, here's what a spring dish might look like: you take morels from your foraging trip, cream and butter from your cow, and asparagus, shallots and herbs from your garden. You combine them in any way that makes sense to you, and then you thank the forest, the cow and your backyard for providing such amazing bounty." In our case, we thank the farmer's market. We adapted the recipe found in the article. Here's how we combined these spring delights!

Asparagus and Mushroom Stir Fry

2 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs butter
1 bunch chopped spring onions or leeks, chopped
1 pound of mushrooms, trimmed and sliced (or more, you could never have too many): crimini, shitake, morel, porcini, etc.
1/3 lb chicken cut into stir fry strips
1 clove garlic, sliced
1 bunch of farmer's market asparagus (~ 1 lb), trimmed and cut into 1.5in pieces
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp flour
~1 Tbs chopped fresh cilantro, tarragon, or chervil
salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat butter and olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions/leeks, mushrooms, and chicken. Cook until mushrooms have released their liquid and it has cooked off, about 10 min. Add the garlic ~half-way through. Be sure to flip the chicken often until it has cooked through. Feel free to break up the chicken as it cooks. The chicken will cook through before the mushroom juice cooks off.

2. Add the asparagus and the chicken broth. Bring to a boil, cover, reduced heat, and simmer for 2-4 min.

3. Whisk together milk and flour in a cup. Add to the skillet with the herbs. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Continue cooking uncovered until the sauce thickens slightly and the asparagus is tender, about 4 min.

4. Serve over angel hair pasta.