Spring brings asparagus season, and asparagus just screams for two of my favorite ways to prepare food… grilled, and with an egg on top.  Recently, Bon Appetit called “anything with an egg on it” one of the hottest trends.  Trendy or not, we’ve been putting egg on “stuff” for a while, and we love it. 

Grilled Asparagus Milanese is simple to prepare, and an oddly rustic yet elegant addition to your spring meal.

Ingredients:

1 bunch asparagus
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp garlic powder
Salt and Pepper to taste
Balsamic Vinegar to taste
2 eggs

Grated Parmesan cheese

Snap the tough ends off of each asparagus stalk.  Lay on a single layer on a plate and coat with olive oil.  Sprinkle with garlic powder, salt and pepper.  Grill on direct heat until slightly charred, about 10 minutes.  Remove from grill and divide onto two plates.

Fry eggs in light coating of olive oil, sunny side up.  Sprinkle with coarse salt and pepper.  Place one egg atop each pile of asparagus.  If desired, spray lightly with balsamic vinegar.  Grate parmesan cheeses on top of egg yolk before serving.

Adding an egg on top of produce does not always seem to be an intuitive thing to do. But the egg yolk oozes onto the asparagus like a rich dressing, adding a complexity to the flavor that is hard to beat. Served with a perfectly grilled tenderloin aside a salad of arugula, tomato and cucumber, this meal serves as a early, healthy introduction into the grilling season.

 I may have mentioned a time or two how much I like ramps.  As it is now high ramp season, much of what I am cooking has a ramp component to it in one way or another. 

Ramps are not a very well known vegetable these days, so imagine my surprise when I was browsing through one of the latest books that a publisher had sent me for review and stumbled across a ramp recipe!  (I’ll link to the book review once I actually finish the review!)   Olives and Oranges: Recipes and Flavor Secrets from Italy, Spain, Cyprus, and Beyond actually had a recipe for White Bean Soup with Ramps, and it became pretty clear that  I was going to need to give it a try.

As spring can go in Wisconsin, it was inevitable that a cold, damp, dreary day would come along, and as soon as it did, I headed for the kitchen to make this soup.  In the end, it was perfect for the day – warming, filling, and flavorful.  While I veered away from the original recipe that was in the book, the spirit of the recipe remained.  What follows below is my rendition of White Bean Soup with Ramps.
Ingredients:

• 2  tablespoons Olive Oil
• 10 Ramp Bulbs, chopped, with greens saved
• 1 Carrot, diced
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 4 yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch chunks
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 can cannelloni beans, drained
• More chicken stock, as needed
• Reserved Ramp greens, chopped
• 1 lb bulk Italian sausage, cooked to doneness
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• Chives, chopped

In heavy stock pot, slowly sautee ramps, carrot, and celery in olive oil until softened.  Add garlic and sautee 2 minutes further.    Add potatoes and stir ingredients together.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add chicken stock, ensuring that potatoes are covered with liquid.  Bring pot to boil, then reduce and allow to simmer for 30 minutes.  Add cannelloni beans.  If needed add more stock to cover ingredients in pot.  Allow to simmer 30 more minutes.

With immersion blender, blend all ingredients in pot until smooth and creamy.  If you do not have an immersion blender, use a normal blender or food processor.  If soup is too thick, add more stock to desired consistency.   Add pre-cooked Italian Sausage,  stir.  Add reserved ramp greens and parmesan cheese, stir, and remove from heat.

Serve with chopped chives and grated parmesan cheese garnish.

Among the housewares big names like All Clad, Viking and Cuisinart and the exhibits with celebrity chef monikers plastered all over their booths is a small section set aside for the new inventions. The Inventors Corner is a place we always make sure we visit at this show to see who the next up and coming Kitchen Aid might be. This year we found two companies offering some interesting gadgets for the kitchen.

Garlic Gadgets

The first is a trio of garlic gadgets from Koopeh Designs (www.koopeh.com). They include the Garlic Chop, Garlic Keep and Garlic Peeler. If you use garlic a lot in your cooking you should check these products out. The Garlic Chop is a clever device that allows you to chop, crush, mince and shred garlic cloves with ease. Shaped like a garlic bulb, the Chop comes it two halves, each with a set of teeth. Place up to 4 cloves of garlic inside and twist the two halves to masticate the garlic as much or as little as you like. Koopeh Designs has even produced a video to show you how it’s done.

According to their web site, “The Garlic Keep is a storage device made of ceramic with holes on the bottom to keep the garlic fresh”. The Keep, cleverly enough looks like a giant bulb of garlic. Think of it as a cookie jar for the Stinking Rose.

The last item is the Garlic Peel. The Garlic Peel is a tube-like device made of silicone that peels the skin off the garlic cloves.  You simply place the garlic cloves inside the tube-like device, and then between your hands or rubbing the Peel against the table you use friction to peel the cloves.

The Garlic Keep and the Garlic Peel will be available later in 2008

Corn Gadgets

The next set of new gadgets we liked was from a small company called CORNpatibles (www.cornpatibles.com). As their website states “Changing the way we cook & handle hot, fresh “Corn on the Cob” forever! The two products they were showing were the CornCappR and the CornCobbR.

We have used many different corn cob holders in our time. All of these traditional holders are little fork like things with handles that you struggle to impale the steaming hot ear of corn on after you cook it. With the CornCappR, you can place the holders on the corn BEFORE you cook it. Following the trend of silicon invasion of the kitchen, the CornCappR’s are heat resistant FDA approved silicon rings with raised ribs on the outside. They are placed on the corn prior to cooking in either boiling water or a microwave. Heat resistant CornCappR’s protect fingers and hands from getting burned, and allow you to handle and hold hot, fresh corn on the cob within seconds after being removed from the pot.

If you are like me, there is nothing better than sweet corn at the peak of the season. If you like to capture that goodness by freezing corn, the CornCobbR is your friend. The CornCobbR is a nifty tool for cutting the kernels of corn off of the cob. Gone are the days of wielding a sharp knife to free the sweet corn goodness. The CornCobbR makes quick and safe work of your task.

Morrocan cooking is one my my favorite types of cooking.  I love the exotic blend of ethnic flavors that combine into this style of food.  The diversity of flavors come from Arab, Moorish, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, African, and Jewish influences.  When creating a Morrocan dish, typical spices would include cumin, cinnamon, turmeric, ginger, pepper, paprika, anis and mint.

Perhaps the most common symbol of Morrocan cooking is the tagine, or tajine.  A tagine traditionally is a stew-like dish made in a clay pot with a conical top.  This pot came to also be known as a tagine.

Tagines are typically used to slowly simmer meats and vegetables, which often are served over couscous.  The shape of the tagine creates a self-basting vessel that guarantees that the meats cooked will stay moist throughout the cooking process.

One of the first dishes that I made after I first purchased my tagine was a Kefta Tagine, or a Morrocan Meatball Stew.  It convinced me that the purchase wasn’t a waste of money, and I have since gone on to use this pot, and this style of cooking often. 

Kefta Tagine:

For the Kefta (meatballs)

1 pound ground lamb or beef
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 cup onion, peeled and finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil for pan-frying

For the sauce

2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2 medium onions, peeled and finely chopped
1 green bell pepper, cored, seeded, and chopped
1 small bunch parsley, chopped
2 pounds tomatoes, chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons salt or to taste

Combine the ingredients for the meatballs.   Shape the meat mixture into 1-inch balls.  Heat your tagine, or any heavy casserole-style pan and  add the olive oil. Brown the meatballs well in the oil, in batches if necessary, then remove. Leave the oil in the pot. Cover the meatballs and set aside.

To the reserved oil, add the garlic, onion, and bell pepper. Saute the vegetables until the onion turns translucent. Add all the remaining ingredients for the sauce and simmer, covered, 30 minutes, or until the sauce cooks down to a thick gravy.

Return the meatballs to the sauce. Simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes.  Serve at once directly from the pot.

This summer, Saturdays have turned in to a leisurely meal outside on the deck, enjoying the shade of the 250 year old oak tree, the gentle breeze, and the mild early summer temperatures. And in such a relaxing, civilized setting, not just any lunch will do.

A recent Saturday morning found me watching FoodNetwork TV as I got ready to run my routine errands (like picking up the CSA produce box that we get weekly).  Tyler Florence’s show “Tyler’s Ultimate” was on, and while he tends to do food we like, I wasn’t paying extraordinary attention… until he began to discuss a dish called Gallina De Madre, or Mother Hen Toast.  I was immediately intrigued.

This dish consisted of a crusty, toasted slab of rustic bread, topped with serrano ham and an egg, then baked.  I knew that the chances of finding serrano ham were slim, but I also know that other high quality ham would work for this dish.

Gallina De Madre was offered up as a tapas, or even a nice breakfast.  It looked to me like the perfect lunch for that very day, and so I made sure that my errands for the day including picking up anything we might need.  As is usual, I modified the recipe that he presented to suit our tastes.

Recipe serves 2:

2 thick-cut slices rustic bread
Extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 
4 slices shaved serrano ham (We used Boar’s Head Black Forest Ham)
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Lay bread out on a sheet tray and drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and toast lightly in oven. Arrange 2 slices of ham on each slice of toast and nestle it into a nest shape so the egg will rest in the center. Crack egg and drop into nest on each toast. Bake in oven until eggs are just cooked but the yolk is still slightly runny, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, if needed.

Served along side a bed of greens simply dressed with salt, pepper, olive oil and red wine vinegar, it was exactly what we were looking for that day.