asparagus prosciutto egg and home made noodle sheets

Spring is here and so many good things are starting to happen in the garden. One of the first vegetables to popup out of hibernation is the asparagus and the hens are in full swing laying eggs.  With these welcome taste of spring I was inspired to make this dish of asparagus with prosciutto, poached egg and home made noodle sheets.

This is really a simple combination of ingredients. The noodle sheets are made from a simple pasta dough and instead of cutting the dough into slender noodles, I cut them into small rectangles. Blanch the asparagus in a little salt water, poach an egg, add a little thinly sliced prosciutto and finish it off with olive oil, salt and pepper. Once you break open the egg, the yolk will add rich creaminess to these wonderful spring time flavors

For the pasta:

210g semolina flour

3 lg egg yolk room temp

1 lg egg room temp

1 tsp olive oli

11/2 Tbls water

Mix all ingredients and blend in a mixer with a paddle attachment for five minutes. Gather the dough together in a ball, cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes at room temperature. Roll the dough through a pasta machine or hand roll. Cut into 3 inch by 5 inch sheets. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes until tender.

For the asparagus:

Bring a pan of salted water to a boil and blanch asparagus until just tender. Remove from water and cool. 

For the poached egg:

Bring a pan of water to a boil, turn heat off and gently drop an egg in the water. Cover and let cook for about 3 minutes. Remove egg with slotted spoon.

For the prosciutto:

A couple of slices of a delicious prosciutto

Assemble everything on a plate or in a bowl and enjoy!

This post is included in Simple Lives Thursday, Tasty Traditions and Wednesday Fresh Foods Link Up.

The Warm on My Feet

I ran outside yesterday to chase the deer from the yard and realized as my bare feet stepped onto the wet grass that there was a soft and warm sensation where the cold use to be. I had to stop and enjoy the moment. Feeling the warmth from the bottom of my feet wrapping around to the top was wonderful so I did a little squeal of delight. I knew then that the ground in the gardens was warming and ran to see what was emerging from the winter soil.

asparagus

snap peas

Caroline raspberries

crocus

rhubarb

shallots

So happy for the warmth on my feet.

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.

Green Green Green!

The sun finally came out yesterday, so I dropped everything and ran outside to clean the chicken coops and survey the gardens.  The temperature has been mild and many days of rain has made everything green, green and green.

This is the garden box I built the hoophouse over. When I took the plastic off, I decided to leave the pvc pipes in place and use them to support the pea/bean trellis. Here you can see spinach, Butterhead lettuce, Iceberg lettuce, and Sugar Snap peas. We've been munching on the leafy green for about two weeks now and are really enjoying that.

The asparagus is coming along nicely. The fern fronds are beautiful and very delicate. The Ladies like to forage in the bed and haven't disturbed the newly formed plants. Yea!

Green blueberries

And the potato plants seem to be growing vigorously. I'm trying out a soaker hose, but it has been raining since put it down about two weeks ago. Water, it's a good thing.

Raspberry Patch Evolves Into The Asparagus Bed

Earlier in the year I moved my raspberry patches. I knew that the beds where the raspberries had been would need some work to get the roots out and keep new canes from growing. After many, many days of turning soil and extracting every root I could find, I'm ready to plant my asparagus crowns. Yea!

This will be my first asparagus bed and I chose the Jersey Supreme plants because they are suppose to produce a high yield and be resistant to rust.  This spring, it is really important to let the young plants produce spears and then let the spears mature into ferns. Skipping the harvest this spring will allow the plants to establish themselves and store energy for next seasons growth. The local farmers market will have delicious asparagus and I'll wait until next year to taste mine.

My Red Gold and Gold Rush potato seeds have arrived and they will be planted in the second old raspberry bed.

To help the soil preparation process along, I've put the Ladies to work digging up the remaining shallow growing raspberry roots.  This will save me hours of stooping and bending to dig them out! Another bonus to keeping chickens...mini rototillers!

Plays Well With Others...

I've been doing a little research about companion planting using vegetables, herbs and flowers. The idea is that companion plants will help to promote the health of the soil, protect neighboring plants from pests, and increase the crop yield. Companion plants create a beneficial interaction and form a balanced environment in the vegetable garden. If you want a more information on companion planting click here.

Below is a table of plants that make good partners.