Asparagus With Mushroom-Cream Sauce

Asparagus is one of my favorite spring time vegetables and this month it has started arriving in the stores. Yea! I found this asparagus with mushroom-cream sauce recipe in the cookbook Simple to Spectacular, by Jean-Georges Vongerichten & Mark Bittman. This book is about starting with a simple recipe and then expanding the basics into more elaborate creations. As an evolving cook, I have found this recipes in this book easy to follow and feel more confident with my everyday cooking. I do love exploring recipes in the book!

Start with these ingredients and in a matter of 15 minutes you get this! I served this delicious dish with a roasted chicken and a glass of wine. This was definitely a comfort meal for me and fitting as we are still being snowed upon in Seattle.

Asparagus With Mushroom-Cream Sauce
From Simple to Spectacular by Jeans-Georges Vongerichten & Mark Bittman

20 asparagus spears (about 1-1.5 lbs)
1 Tbls butter
1 Tbls olive oil
1 lb shiitake mushrooms chopped
2 shallots peeled and minced
1 C heavy cream
2 Tbls dry (fino) sherry
Chives for garnishing

Cream Sauce:

Heat a skillet to medium-high then add the butter and oil. When the butter is melted add the mushrooms, shallots and salt and pepper to taste. Cook the mushrooms until they have sweated out their liquid and it begins to evaporate. Add the cream and boil gently, stirring until it becomes thick.

For the asparagus:

Bring a pot of salted water (salty like the sea) to boil. Blanch the asparagus until almost done. Drain and keep warm. Spoon the mushroom mixture over the asparagus and sprinkle with chives.

I hope all of you enjoy this very tasty spring time dish!

This post is part of Simple Lives Thursday.