Gable-Enders Monthly Dishes
This feature will bring you a monthly dishes created by our local chefs in the the town and the surrounding area.......Our intial dishes are from B-LO which is one of the best restaurants in Montrose.
The food is created and prepared by Paraic and just melts in the mouth... try it, enjoy!
Friday 20 Apr 2007
Chicken with Asparagus and Roasted Red Peppers
Asparagus
Spears of Spring
Lily, Oh Lily
Part of the lily family, asparagus is grown in sandy soils. To cook, wash well under cool water, then steam briefly with the stalks standing upright, stir-fry, or drizzle with olive oil and flash blast in the oven.
Kept in the Dark
White asparagus is just green asparagus that hasn't seen the light of day. To keep it from turning green, it's grown in total darkness under mounds of dirt. Popular in Europe, white asparagus is tender and mild.
Caring for Asparagus
Asparagus tastes best when cooked soon after purchase. Markets should refrigerate their asparagus or store it standing upright in cold water. Wrap stalks in damp paper towels and store in the crisper until ready to prepare.
Original recipe yield:
4 servings
| PREP TIME | 10 Min |
| COOK TIME | 20 Min |
| READY IN | 20 Min |
INGREDIENTS
Citrus hollandaise .
6 crushed peppercorns,
1 tablespoon vinegar
2 egg yolks
200g melted butter
Zest of 1 lemon
Seasoning
DIRECTIONS
Asparagus takes only a few minutes to steam or poach .It can also be pan fried .To elevate this to a starter or light lunch the addition of some dressed leaves ,toasted bread or potato scone or crumpet is all that is needed.
The Hollandaise sauce serves to add richness and mouth feel to this fantastic local ingredient .
Crush the pepper corns and heat with the vinegar till reduced to a third .
(you could use pink peppercorns or white wine or balsamic vinegar the reason is to cut the creaminess of the yolks and butter)
Melt the butter and allow to cool till it is appox 60 C.
Add the strained reduction and the egg yolks together whisk over a pot of boiling water till white
remove from the heat and slowly start to add the hot melted butter you are looking for a sauce as thick as mayonaise .TASTE and season
Arrange the asparagus and add a spoonful of sauce and serve.
Some more quick bits from Paraic.......Charleton farm asparagus done very simply with a pan fried chicken egg on a bed of wilted spinach and with a softly boiled duck egg with toast .
Both theses dishes take about 5 minutes from raw to plate and all the ingredients can be got within a 5 mile radius from B-Lo on market street .
paraic faherty | Fri Apr 20 2007