Asparagus salad with pistachio dressing and morels

Back! At least I hope to post on a regular basis like I usually do, though this week is going to be rather busy, but we shall see. Now here I am with a light seasonal salad where green asparagus meets fresh morels and pistachio. I have a serious crash on pistachio, especially if it comes from Sicily. The basis for the dressing is pistachio paste that is boosted with a little honey, some mustard, basil and lime. Such tender green asparagus is really delicious eaten raw, but in order to bring some excitment I grilled half of them. Morels are the perfect mate of asparagus so enjoy it as long as both are still in season!

Ingredients:

for the dressing:
2 tablespoons pistachio paste
1 small garlic clove
1/2 shallot
zest and juice of a lime
1/4 teaspoon english mustard
4-5 fresh basil leaves
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon honey
if too thick 1-2 teaspoons water
salt
pepper

you'll also need:
400 g green asparagus
100 g fresh morels
4 handful of mixed salad leaves
1 teaspoon butter
1 twig thyme
salt
pepper

 

Wash salad and let it drain. Take half of the green asparagus and fry in almost smoking hot a griddle pan for 2-3 minutes or until it gets some colour. Half morels and sautee in butter with thyme. For the dressing blend everything together and season with salt and pepper. Mix raw and grilled asparagus together with the salad and dressing, add morels and season if necessary.

Sunchoke ravioli with quail egg yolk on fresh goat cheese sauce with morel-pea-dandelion ragout and roasted hemp seeds

Everything started with some leftover green pasta dough, that I have forgotten to put into the freezer, so I decided to use it quickly. While I was wondering about the ingredients that I should use to create today's lunch I quickly made another batch of pasta, because I wanted to make double coloured ravioli. My first plan was to use goat cheese as part of the filling, but instead it has ended up in the sauce. Sunchoke was the answer for the filling and it made a great "nest" for the quail egg yolk. Only something green was missing: I picked some young dandelion leaves and added to the morel-pea ragout. Finally, I garnished that spring starter with parmesan and roasted hemp seeds that I have recieved from my friend, Robert who is the fabulous cook behind mybites. I suggest to use a mature goat cheese instead parmesan, that is also what I am going to do next time!

Ingredients:

for the pasta dough:
100 g flour (pl. 00-ás)
1 egg
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt

for the filling:
150 g sunchoke (weighed peeled)
1/4 teaspoon butter
150 ml vegetable stock
12 quail eggs
nutmeg
salt
pepper


for the goat cheese sauce:
50 ml cream
150 g fresh goat cheese
long pepper
salt

for the ragout:
morels
pea
young dandelion leaves
chervil
1/2 shallot
butter
salt
pepper

for serving:
hemp seeds
mature goat cheese

For the pasta sift flour and make a mould into the middle, then add slightly beaten eggs and start to mix everything together with a fork. When it starts to come together add olive oil and knead a smooth dough. Let it rest for 30 minutes in the fridge.

For the filling cut sunchoke in about 1 cm pieces and cook in vegetable stock until soft. Sieve and puree together with the butter. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Roll out pasta with the help of a machine and put a teaspoon of sunchoke puree onto it in a row. Then crack quail eggs and carefully separete the yolk form the white and slide it onto the middle of the sunchoke puree. Now cover with another thin sheet of pasta and cut out ravioli. Cook in simmering water for 1-2 minutes.

For the sauce warm cream with a halved long pepper until the boiling point, then remove the pepper and stir in the fresh goat cheese and whisk until it has been molten. Season with salt.

For the ragu cut shallot in slices and fry morels in butter, then discard shallot and add peas and dandelion leaves. Sautee for a few minutes and season with salt, pepper and chervil.

Sprinkle roasted hemp seeds and shavings of mature goat cheese on top before serving.

Cream of Mushroom Soup with Parsley Root Foam and Crispy Oat Flake Balls

For a very long time I really could not even think of using frozen mushroom, I just was not convinced enough, and could not imagine that it actually can be good. After discussing about frozen mushrooms with some fellow foodies, I decided to give it a try. Why should one use frozen mushrooms, after all so many different kinds of fresh ones are available throughout the year. Well, in my area it is absolutely impossible to get wild mushrooms, whether fresh or dried, but at least some types you can get frozen. And wild mushrooms are just absolutely amazing, and if frozen is the only way to get them, well, then I do. And so good, that finally I gave in! Since today morning I could not get the charactheristic taste of cep and the slight sweetness of parsley root out of my mind, so I had to get them together in one dish! I think the parsley root foam goes perfectly well with the soup and the crispy oat flake balls bring the missing excitement. The idea which is by the way so simple, yet ingenious is adapted from Nils Henkel. Basically it is nothing else, but deep fried hardend fat coated with breadcrumbs or anything like that. The inside of the balls simply melt away while frying and you end up with empty and crispy balls. Perfect instead of the traditional croûtons in soups or with salad.

Ingredients:
for the soup:
300 g mixed mushrooms
10 g dried cep
1 tablespoon butter
1 shallot
500 ml veal stock
1 twig thyme
2 tablespoons crème fraîche
few drops of lemon juice
salt, pepper
for the parsley root foam:
20 g butter
1 shallot
50 ml white wine
2 large parsley roots
200 ml vegetable stock
50 ml cream
salt, pepper
you'll need these also:
coconut fat
flour
egg white
oat flakes and breadcrumbs

For the soup sautee chopped shallot, add diced mushrooms, soaked cep and thyme twig. In case you use frozen muhsrooms, sautee it over low heat until all the water has absorbed. Then add veal stock, cep water and cook for 15-20 minutes, then remove the thyme twig and puree with crème fraîche. Season with salt, pepper and lemon juice. For the parsley foam melt butter and sautee onion, add white wine and reduce. Then add sliced parsley root and cook in the stock until soft. Sieve (do not through it away, you can either prepare a soup or a puree), add cream, season and foam it with mixer right before serving. To make the crispy oat flake balls dice coconut fat in equal pieces, then freeze for 15-20 minutes. After dust in flour, then roll in egg white and then in the oat flake-breadcrumb mixture and freeze again. Deep fry in 170°C hot oil.