Posted on by Myfrenchkitchen

Wild asparagus risotto with lemon and sage..and pulling off the road.

I have a few risotto recipes that I adore. One is made with sweet potato, another with saffron, yet another with wild mushrooms and then…asparagus. In this case I used wild asparagus with a  very short season, but delicious while they last.

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La recette:

  1. Asparagus, lemon and sage:
  2. Sauté the asparagus for only 3 – 4 minutes,  in a large pan with olive oil, lemon wedges,  a sprinkling of white balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Remove and keep aside. they should still be crunchy. Saute the lemon wedges a bit longer to caramelize.
  3. Heat enough olive oil in a small frying pan to cover the base.
  4. Add some sage leaves and fry until crisp. Remove and drain on kitchen towel.
  5. Risotto:
  6. Sauté 1 chopped shallot in a little olive oil. Add about 1 cup of arborio or carnarolli rice and sauté for another 3 minutes top release the nutty flavors of risotto rice.
  7. Add 1/2 cup white wine and 1TBSP of white balsamic vinegar. Stir. Add about 500ml of hot vegetable stock, ladle by ladle to the risotto, stirring all the while over medium high heat.
  8. Chop a few leaves of fresh sage in thin ribbons and add to the risotto.
  9. Taste the risotto…the rice should still have some bite and not be mushed to a porridge.
  10. Add 1 TBSP of créme fraiche, 1 knob of butter and 2 TBSP of grated parmesan cheese and the grated rind of 1 lemon. Turn off the heat and stir through.
  11. Taste for seasoning.
  12. Serve immediately – spoon the risotto onto individual plates. top with the asparagus en finish off with the crisp oil fried sage leaves.
  13. Sere with extra Parmesan on the side.

Serves about 4 people.

Suggestions:

  • Use garden asparagus or string beans instead of wild asparagus.
  • Combine with tarragon instead of sage.
  • Leave out the creme fraiche and use a soft goats cheese instead.
  • Leave out the creme fraiche and sprinkle with  crumbled feta cheese just before serving.
  • The risotto should be creamy and not dry at all.

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When the bumps on the road get too disconcerting, I always pull off the road, switch off the engine, empty my mind and drift off to that world where I know giggles and laughter are plentiful.  And smiles. That place where we run off to when life is too blue and we want it more colourful. They are our private corners where we deal with these road bumps in our own unique ways so we can be able to turn the ignition key and continue on the bumpy roads. I thought I would share some of the things I run to for a smile or a hearty laugh or a tickling giggle.

  1. I adore that first coffee of the morning.It turns me inside out with happiness.
  2. I love watching someone enjoying a meal with gusto and joy(and good manners of course), someone who has a visible appreciation for the goodness of good quality products and for the preparation that goes  into a meal.
  3. I love people who can fold double with laughter,  enjoying laughing so much you can hear it right in the pit of their stomach! It is contagious and I might not know what the laughter is about, but I have to join in, just for the sake of the joy it brings.
  4. I love that good sharp which some people have. Not jokes. Jokes are flat and boring. Wit is something completely different. It is an art. That ability to be able to catch a moment and react to it with just the perfect touch of irony and humor.
  5. I love the smell of horses…their sweat, their manes, the oil on their skin..
  6.  I love playing tennis; running for every ball, sweating, groaning like a pro,  stretching, running, sliding…all of it..
  7. I love my chickens’ eager trot-run when they see cheese in my hand, it makes me burst out in spontaneous laughter.
  8. I love watching the geese’s rhythmic swaying from behind.
  9. I adore our apéros at sunset. If heaven doesn’t have that, I don’t want to go there…
  10. I love swimming..not lengths or any fashionable style, but splashing and diving and twirling and drowning… like a dolphin. I just love being in the water.
  11. I love waking up early morning to blue skies and sunshine..I can  just burst with happiness.
  12. I love the smell of oil paints on my palette.
  13. I love a scalp massage when I go to the hairdresser.
  14. I love walking barefoot.
  15. I love walking in the rain.
  16. I love walking in my garden endlessly throughout the day, hoping I’ll see something new every time.
  17. I love having coffee and croissant with mon chéri in town and we talk about everything and anything, especially since he is a man of few words.
  18. I love my perfumes..I splash it on when I go to dinner, when I go to town, when I go to bed or when I go work in the garden. M favorite, you ask? But Coco , eau de perfum, Chanel of course.
  19. I love burying my face and kissing the soft belly of my cat Ayiani…she grabs my head gently with her paws and it makes me giggle with pleasure…although I have had the occasional scratch of her fury when she’s not in the mood…
  20. I adore my bed and I adore slipping into crisp linen smelling of sunshine. I fall asleep with a content smile.

I hoe I have touched some of your soft spots or at least made you pull off the road to find your private world where laughter and giggles abound!

…my favorite perfume; Coco, from Chanel…

(for more sketches of perfumes, see my art blog Africantapestry)

perfume 4

à a prochaine fois

Ronelle

Posted on by Myfrenchkitchen

Spring salad with asparagus, and spring “greens”.

Spring is a month of greens. From sprouting to adult leaf and branch. From bud to flower. From seed to fruit. It bursts with health and it begs for salads. Green asparagus is at its peak at the moment and will only last one more month before it comes to rest for  whole year. Assemble your salads. Feast on your asparagus. There are no limits to pure goodness.

Asparagus and potato salad. 3255x2850

La recette:

  1. Boil some pasta of your choice to al dente and keep aside.
  2. Clean and cut an onion into slices. Sauté in a pan with some olive oil.  Add 3 or 4 small potatoes cut into rings, cover and cook over low heat until soft.
  3. Rinse some asparagus. Rinse some pois gourmande. Steam together until just tender. Add to the onions  and mix lightly. Add freshly chopped herbs of  your choice…basil is nice.
  4. Grate 2 or 3 carrots and mix lightly with some olive oil, lemon juice and a drizzle of flowered honey.
  5. Assemble the salad by adding the warm onion mixture to the pasta; Season with salt and pepper, leom juice and olive oil.
  6. Top with the cool, fresh carrot salad, sprinkle dry roasted pine nuts and drizzle with the carrot juices.
  7. Serve a good mayonnaise and baguette on the side.

Pincée de sel:

  • Sauté the asparagus beforehand in olive oil, herbs and lemon butter and then add to the pasta…tastier.
  • Use other vegetables like spring peas, or beans.
  • Keep the variety of vegetables to a minimum to avoid a confusion of flavours.
  • Omit the potatoes and add a meat of your choice, like chicken. add more sauce in that case to avoid a dry salad.
  • Omit the carrot salad and use grated beetroot instead with a pungent vinaigrette which goes well with the potaoes and pasta.

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Spring greens come in many shades (and tastes as well). For now, we will stick to the shades and tones. for this excercise I stuck to pure greens straight from the tube., painting some ribbons of greens on paper and walking around in the garden, trying to match the colour on the paper to the greens I can find in the garden.

Another fun project would be to do it with food…matching greens to what one can find in the fridge. Or doing it with summer yellows, reds, aubergines.  Colour makes the world go round…at least for me.

Maybe in the next post I’ll set a spring green table..;paint some greens on paper ribbons and try to find matching greens for the table.

..grass green chives…

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..young plums..

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..young tilleul leaves with golden greens, brown greens and ochres..

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..a young olive branch in olive greens and earth green..

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..and my favorite green in the garden is Sennelier grey – the santolinas, some lavendins, curry plants, stachys, armoises, ballotas, convolvulus(image below), cérastiums…

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..and lastly the lovely dark rich greens of ceanothes with its overflowing purple flowers..

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à plus!

Ronelle