Roasted Paprika Shallots and Asparagus with Red Potatoes, Carrots, and Broccoli

While going through my asparagus archive I noticed that I have two separate photo shoots for what was essentially the same shallot and asparagus recipe. It's a great recipe that's easy and versatile so that would make sense why I have so many pictures of it. While I attempted to narrow down my favorites I came to find that this was no easy task. So rather than giving myself more work, and subsequently never getting around to make this post, I decided to just post them all. This is going to be a longer post than usual, filled with a lot of beautiful pictures and it has a great shallot and asparagus recipe. Since both photo shoots involved steak dinners, rather than going over how to grill a steak again I am instead going to go over acceptable or appropriate garnishes to go on steak. I would be upset to think my blog could be getting redundant.

Steak topped with Chimichurri 

Shallot and Asparagus Recipe:

What I like about this recipe is it's basically all you need to make. It could be its own meal if it needed to be. I've also included brussel sprouts along with the rest of the vegetables. They all roast for the same amount of time except for the broccoli. I like to have mine a little charred though so I wouldn't wait too long to add them to your mix.

Ingredients:
1 bunch of asparagus
2 reasonably sized shallots
1-3 carrots
2 crowns of broccoli
3-4 red potatoes
Olive oil
Salt, Pepper (to taste)
Paprika 






Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees with your roasting pan inside. Wash and cut the ends off your asparagus. Peel your shallots. Chop your carrots. Quarter your potatoes. Add them to a large bowl. Add your salt, pepper, olive oil, and paprika. Mix them all together.  When your oven and pan are hot pour out the contents of the bowl into the hot pan and evenly distribute throughout. Cook for about 20 minutes. While that's cooking chop the flowers off of the crown of your broccoli and add them to the same bowl. Add some olive oil to those and more salt, pepper, and paprika. Check to see how far along your other roasting vegetables are. You want to pour the broccoli on top of the rest of them but make sure your broccoli has enough time too cook without over cooking your other vegetables. When they're all the desired texture remove pan from oven. Let them stand for 5 or so minutes, and then enjoy!


Appropriate Condiments for Steaks:

Argentina which is widely renowned for their beef and wine consumption, which for any respectable person are admirable traits. There's a condiment that you can find at most any restaurant. It's generally for steak but I've seen it used for dinner rolls. I've even heard it referred to as "Argentina's Ketchup". It's called Chimichurri. And with anything that is as wide spread through a region as chimichurri is through Argentina you can imagine that opinions on the correct way to make it are even more ubiquitous than the condiment. Ubiquitous²?


Ingredients:

1 bunch of parsley
5 cloves of garlic
3/4 cup of olive oil
1/4 cup of red wine vinegar
Red pepper flakes (to taste)
Pepper/Salt (to taste)
Juice from 1 lemon wedge

Instructions: 

Add contents into food processor. Process. It comes out tasting better if you let it chill in your refrigerator for at least an hour before serving.

This next garnish is a piece of guanciale that I roasted on the top of the steak. Guanciale is made from the pigs jowl or cheek and is similar to bacon but richer in flavor and fat. As it was finishing on the grill I added the guanciale to the top of it and I finished it off in a hot oven at 425 degrees. This is my version of the bacon wrapped filet mignon.

 The white sauce on the plate is 50% crème fraîche and 50% horse radish. Mixed together in a bowl and served cold. It can add a nice tangy flavor to your steak. 

Roasted Asparagus and shallot soup w/ Avacado

This is a new soup I tried. I couldn't sleep the other night so I did what everyone does in this situation: midnight asparagus Google searches. I found a recipe that sounded promising but I felt it needed some changes. The soup turned out really good but just like everything else that's worthwhile in this life it left me with more questions than answers. This soup is served hot with roasted asparagus and shallots.  It's made me curious about trying an asparagus gazpacho though. However, not wanting to be gauche I will have to wait until the Summer to attempt something like that. I'll let you know how it turns out.

I love avocado. When I cut into a fresh avocado it fills me with hope. Something as piquant as avocado is proof that there's a divine force in the universe. That I'm not alone. If something this delicious can exist it has to be an indication that there's something more than me. My trite existence is one small piece of some larger scheme. Nothing this beautiful can be created purely by chance or serendipity. Sometimes though when I cut into one and I see it's brown and rotted, a rush of doubt enters my mind. I'm reminded that I'm all alone in an indifferent universe that's cold and bleak. And Serendipity is just a shitty John Cusack movie, not the driving force behind existence.

 Ingredients:

1 bundle of Asparagus

1 clove of garlic

1/4 cup of olive oil

1 shallot

2 avocados

1 clove of garlic

Salt/Pepper

2 cups of chicken

1/2 lemon, juiced

                                                                                    1 teaspoon of bacon grease

Instructions:

Heat your oven to 425 degrees. Put your roasting pan in the oven to heat it. Cut (or snap) the ends off your asparagus, slice your shallots and your garlic. When the pan is hot and your oven is warmed take the pan out and lay the asparagus across the pan with the shallots and garlic. Roast them for 12-14 minutes. While this is happening take out your food processor and add everything else to it. The chicken stock, the avocados the salt and pepper the bacon grease and the lemon juice. When the asparagus is done roasting add those to the food processor and puree. Don't puree the stuff that's going to end up garnishes. Leave a few spears of asparagus and some slices of avocado and shallots out. Serve quickly in bowls and enjoy! Garnish how you see appropriate.

Shallot and Blanched Asparagus Salad

This is a really easy salad recipe. I'm unsure if recipe is the accurate word when you're talking about salads. It's more of a guideline. You can follow this exactly or follow your whims. I will be truly impressed if you can screw up a salad.


Ingredients:

Lettuce
Blanched Asparagus
Shallots
Sun dried tomatoes
Red bell pepper
Salt and Pepper to taste
Olive oil






There's a long-standing philosophical debate that divides salad culture regarding the basic preparation of salads. I think it even predates Socrates. He didn't have the audacity to get involved with this heated discussion and I will take his cowardly example. Whether you want to have all of the ingredients prepped and ready before you start to embark upon your creation or if you want to start with some ingredients in the bowl and simply add to your conglomeration of ingredients is up to you entirely. Each technique speaks volumes about you as a person and I refuse to weigh in to either side of the argument. You either make salads like Camus or you make salad like Kant. You will be judged accordingly.

Tips:


For this salad I used the olive oil that was in the jar of sun dried tomatoes I had for a light salad dressing. When you do that a few times you can just add more olive oil to your jar and let it get infused with the sun dried tomatoes.



Instructions:

Take the aforementioned ingredients and put them in a bowl. Once all the ingredients are in the bowl you should drizzle the olive oil over the top of it all.

Fettucini in a White Wine Reduction w/ Shallots, Asparagus, and Shrimp

Despite the theme of this blog you may have had a difficult time inferring that I like to use the same ingredients in different venues, but that isn't the case. There's a few things that I like to cook with that I think can usually make any dish exponentially better. Shrimp happens to be one of these ingredients. I'm writing this introduction because I already have a recipe that has shrimp, shallots, and asparagus. I'm going to be adding another one today, and not surprisingly: I still have more to add later. This is a really easy pasta dish that you can put together quickly. There are times when you can be in the mood for long drawn out recipes and then there's most of the time, when you aren't. Subsequently this recipe is perfect for most of the time.

Ingredients:
3/4 box of Fettucini
3/4 of a lb of shrimp (peeled and deveined)
1 medium shallot, sliced
1/2 bunch of asparagus, chopped
1/2 cup of white wine (whatever is open)
Parmesan cheese to taste
3 tablespoons of olive oil
Salt to taste




Instructions:

 The first step to this meal is putting water in a large sauce pan on an alternate burner than what you're going to be using to cook your shallots, asparagus and shrimp. This is going to be for the Fettucini. The water coming to a boil and the pasta cooking are the things about this dish that takes the longest. (When the water is coming to a boil, add the pasta.) Then just like when you're making the risotto what you want to do is heat up a large shallow pan. Add your two tablespoons of olive oil and your sliced shallot. Cook your shallot until it becomes iridescent but not browned. Take your shallots out of the pan. Add your 1/2 cup of wine and make sure the heat is low. Scrape the bottom of the pan to get any remnants of shallot to mix in with your wine. Let the wine slowly simmer and reduce. When the wine is coming to the consistency you're looking for (don't let it all evaporate, feel free to add more if it begins to) you want to add the asparagus and the cooked shallots. Cook those for a few minutes or until the asparagus is almost getting soft. Add your shrimp. Salt to taste. What you're looking to do is have everything finish at the same time. The shrimp is the one ingredient that really shows when it's overdone. When the shrimp is turning pink on both sides and your asparagus is cooked but still firm and crispy, then hopefully your pasta is being drained. After I drain the pasta I usually like to add about another tablespoon of olive oil to it and mix it all together. Then incorporate all of your pasta to your shallow sauce pan and mix it all together. I usually add a little Parmesan cheese and mix that into the dish as well, in addition to adding some after plating. Feel open to the idea of cooking some garlic along with the shallots and the beginning, or squirting some lemon juice over it all before you add the pasta in the end. You can even add a tomato that has been chopped into large pieces when you add the shrimp. This is your dish and I hope you enjoy it.
 

Grilled New York Steak w/ Rainbow Chard, Sopressata wrapped Asparagus and Shallots

Slowly and consistently as the months progress towards summer our weather here in Portland is turning around. Last weekend was the first chance I had to break out my barbeque this year. Grilling is the first way I learned to cook and it's subsequently the first thing I refer back to. If I'm ever wondering how I should do something in a kitchen I'll consider how I would do it on a barbeque first. The simplicity of an open flame is something that the rudimentary cave man inside of us all can easily relate to. Living in a condo/apartment isn't entirely conducive to the grilling lifestyle most of us try to maintain. I am sadly relegated to a small charcoal grill where every square inch of cooking space is valuable. I envy those of you with the opulence of space. I appreciate what I have, but it would be an easy and accurate accusation to say I've planned entire camping trips solely because I wanted to cook over an open flame. As the sun was slowly starting to wane towards the West Hills I set up our barbeque and this is what I threw together:




Ingredients:

1 New York steak (or Ribeye)
1 Bunch of Asparagus
1 Chopped shallot
7 slices of Sopressata
1 bunch of Rainbow Chard
3 tablespoons of butter sliced
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

I usually end up buying huge steaks that most people can't eat by themselves. Split the large steak into as many servings as is reasonable. People's definition of reasonable seem to vary so you should generally trust your own instincts. When the steak is still cold add a coat of salt and pepper to both sides. You shouldn't put the steak on a cold grill. Wait until your charcoal or your gas has heated up your grill to an adequate temperature. While your grill is heating up you should take a long sheet of aluminum foil and lay it out flat. Add the chard in a row all along the bottom. This is going to be a bed of chard. Add salt and pepper to taste. You may even want to consider some garlic powder or garlic cloves if you're a garlic lover. At this point you should start cutting thin slices of butter and interspersing them throughout the chard. The butter is going to add flavor to it and keep it from drying out. You can use Olive Oil if you prefer. Take your asparagus and chop or snap the ends off of the bottom. I like to use three at a time. Take three pieces of asparagus and wrap them with the sopressata. Put the folding ends on the bottom so it stays together, and lay them into the bed of chard. You can use a toothpick to hold them all together if you like. I wouldn't put them too close to the pieces of butter though. The fat from the sopressata is going to soak into the asparagus so you won't need the butter for them. You can also use prosciutto or any other cured ham. Salami could even work. When that's all done you should put your chopped shallot across the entire thing. If your piece of aluminum foil isn't long enough to fold over itself then add an equivalent sized sheet across the top. Roll the corners and the edges into themselves. Try to make sure everything is inside of your aluminum foil before you do this. I forgot the shallots and had to redo it. You need to make sure your seals are tight. There is going to be liquid forming at the bottom when it's cooking and you don't want it to spill onto your fire. This is going to be melted butter and you want your chard to soak in it. It's delicious.

The steak should only be flipped once and should cook roughly for about 9 minutes on each side. This all depends on the thickness of your steak. Right before you think you should flip your steak is when you should put your vegetables on the grill. They're going to take less time than your meat. There's a way to tell if your steak is done without cutting it open. Poke the center of your steak with tongs or with a fork. If the consistency feels the same as the consistency of meat in between your forefinger and your thumb, then it's medium rare. If the consistency of the meat feels like it's the same as the pad of your thumb then it's well done. If you are wanting it rare then you can probably figure out that the less time it's spending on the fire, the more rare it's going to be. When you're approaching the end it doesn't hurt to open up your aluminum foil to check it out a bit.

 

When you feel like you've gotten everything cooked to the point you want it. You should remove it from the grill and plate it. Now eat!

Delicious

Pizza w/ shallots and asparagus

From the perspective of a misanthrope food is one of the only things that I feel I really have in common with most of humanity. It's a common denominator that we can base a connection off of. Throughout the day I've found that most of the conversations I have with people are based around food. It's mostly me bringing it up and sustaining it. I get nods of approval, disinterest and on occasion I can get someone captivated. Although I do admit that doesn't happen very often when I mention I have a blog about asparagus. It's typically less painful than idle chatter about the weather. Which here in Portland mostly consists of which varying degree of how tired you are of the rain.

I don't understand people who aren't "foodies" or who don't have an interest in food. It's such a significant part of peoples' lives that demands daily attention. Dinner parties, dates and depending on the circumstance even hanging out with friends are all socially food-centric activities that we all engage in. Your diet can be such a strong influence in your life that it can dictate who you spend time with socially. There's socially conscious vegans or vegetarians who can bring morality to the dinner table for you. There's ethnic associations with food where people connect with each other because they have the same heritage and they enjoy the same dishes that remind them of the same things. Basically what I'm getting at is food is one thing that brings people together. It has that affect on me anyway.

When I cook I need someone to cook for. If I were eating alone I would just get a burrito from a local taqueria and call it a night. This has happened before. I end up eating at the same place 4 nights out of the week. When I have someone to cook for though that's when I really want to excel. It's embarrassing but my enjoyment of the dish is based on subtle looks and gestures of the person I want to impress. If they don't enjoy the meal then I'm distraught and I end up enjoying it less. I wouldn't say I don't enjoy it, just not nearly as much.

For this next post I'm going to do pizza. Pizza is something that most people love but some of them can't enjoy anymore. The person I cook for is my girlfriend and she's gluten intolerant. She's a much better cook than I am so I'm going to be linking to her blog on this post for how to make the pizza crust.  If you aren't gluten intolerant then that's alright, my post still has amazing pizza. You should feel free to try some gluten-less pizza crust though. I've worked in a few pizza kitchens and this is one of the best I've had.

Ingredients:

Pizza Crust:
http://glutenfreegourmand.blogspot.com/2012/03/gluten-free-pizza-crust-recipe.html

Pizza w/ salami, asparagus, shallots and bell pepper

12 spears of asparagus
8 oz of mozzarella cheese grated
1 shallot sliced
3/4 lb of sausage
8 oz of pasta sauce or 1/2 can of tomato paste
1 tomato







Instructions:

This is a really easy recipe and you can pretty much add whatever you want to the toppings. It's pizza. You're only limited by your imagination. If you're using the pasta sauce as your pizza sauce you want to put it in a sauce pan on medium heat and let it reduce to the proper thickness. If' you're using the tomato paste then just open the can and start spreading it onto the dough. I will say, if you are using the tomato paste I like to put sliced tomato on the paste, under the cheese for texture and flavor. It's also a good idea to sprinkle some salt, pepper and basil on the tomato paste to add some flavor. As you're spreading your sauce onto your preheated dough make sure to have even amounts of it distributed through the entire thing. When I used to make pizza for a job the typical way was to ladle it into the middle and then spread it out in a circular motion, making your red circle grow in circumference with every revolution of your ladle. When this is done to your satisfaction you should spread your cheese out across the entire thing. Add other toppings. When I'm using spinach or arugula I like to put them underneath the meat and other vegetables. I like the asparagus to all point inwards towards each other. Sprinkle the shallots over the whole thing. You're getting the idea. You can add the toppings however you like. This pizza is for you, or really for whomever you're cooking it for. When the pizza is topped to your satisfaction then place it in your oven that's been preheated to 500 degrees. If you're using a cast iron pan like pictured then it will usually take 11-14 minutes to cook. If you're using a pizza stone (like one I recently got) then it should take a little less time. It took mine 9 minutes last week. When the crust has browned and looks crispy and the cheese has browned a bit, then you're good. Pull it out of the oven and let it sit for a few minutes. Then enjoy pizza!

New York steak with grilled asparagus w/ a shallot & whiskey butter sauce and a baked red potato

It's difficult to not get excited about asparagus and shallots when you're talking about using whiskey as a sauce for them. The New York steak doesn't hurt as a garnish either. Everyone has their favorite cuts of steak and I have mine as well. New York steaks are rich and full of flavor and easy to cook with. I have a local store that sells them in ridiculous sizes and it's difficult for me to not want to buy one when I see them. I grilled this on a Lodge cast iron skillet. I can't understate how much I like to cook on cast iron. I gave this skillet to my girlfriend as a Christmas gift. I'm a strong proponent of giving gifts to people you care about that are also useful to yourself. It just makes sense.

Ingredients:

2 large shallots sliced
1 bunch of asparagus
1 large New York Steak (or two reasonably sized ones)
5 oz of Whiskey (plus additional if needed)
2 tablespoons of butter
A few splashes of water (if needed)
1 teaspoon of mustard 
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 red potato
Salt/Pepper to taste

Instructions:

The thing that will take the longest is the potato. Drizzle some olive oil around the entire thing and add some salt and pepper to taste. Put it into the oven at 450 degrees on a preheated pan. Put about a tablespoon of olive oil in a pan and add your sliced shallots. Heat them up and let them brown. Pour 3 ounces of whiskey into a glass, and another two ounces into another glass. When the shallots are looking thirsty it's time to add the whiskey. Pour the whiskey in slowly and reduce the heat. Deglaze the pan. Let the shallots simmer while the whiskey is reducing. Drink the other glass of whiskey.


At this time you should be heating up your skillet for the steak and the asparagus. The asparagus should have their ends cut off of them (or snapped, but I find that practice to be time consuming and obnoxious).



The steak should be seasoned with salt and pepper. If you are preparing a cut inferior to the New York or a Rib eye I recommend coating it lightly with salt, pepper, garlic powder, a small amount of olive oil and some Worcestershire sauce. This can hide the lackluster meat quality. While you're preparing the steak you should add about 2 tablespoons of butter to the shallots.  The asparagus will cook for about the same amount of time the meat is cooked. Generally you should only flip the meat one time. I recommend waiting about 8-10 minutes and then flipping the steak. When you're cooking with cast iron it has the ability to retain heat very well. After you flip the steak for the second time you should wait several minutes. Not as long as you waiting on the first side however. Once you turn off the burner the steak and the asparagus will continue to cook. I like mine to be medium rare. At this point when everything is almost done add the teaspoon of mustard (stone ground) into the shallot whiskey sauce and stir it. It will help emulsify it. You may need to add some water if it looks to be separating. If that happens add a little water and whisk it all together. When all of this looks good to your standards you should plate the dish. You're ready to enjoy.

Shallot and Asparagus Sushi Rolls

A few months ago I was talking with someone about cooking. The conversation was brief and at some point I had mentioned that I was going to go have Sushi. He asked me if I had ever tried to make my own. In my mind I immediately dismissed the idea and thought to myself, Sushi isn't something you make: it's something you buy - like coffee. Then I noticed that when I did go out for Sushi I couldn't find a single restaurant with a Shallot and Asparagus roll. Quite naturally I decided I was going to learn how to make sushi. This is what I came up with.

Ingredients:

3 cups of Sushi rice
As much Sashimi grade Salmon as you can handle
1/4 lb of Asparagus blanched
1 sliced Shallot
Nori (dried seaweed in sheets)
Wasabi

Instructions: 

The ingredients list for this dish is a little difficult to write out. I don't actually know how much Sushi you will want to make. It's better to have an abundant amount of rice though. If you don't use it for this you will use it for something else. Here's how to make Sushi Rice: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/perfect-sushi-rice/. I followed that recipe basically so you can too. I feel sort of strange writing out a recipe that isn't my own. As a disclaimer I would like to state that in no way am I a Sushi chef. I only briefly (and I do mean briefly)  looked at recipes online. This is probably not the best technique. This is my first attempt, and I think it turned out pretty well. Once you have the rice you want to have a cup of warm water with a little bit of vinegar in it. Dip your hands into it. This makes the rice not stick to your hands. Once you do that start picking out rice from your bowl and spread them into a square on your Sushi mat. I used a piece of parchment paper to keep the food from being stuck to the mat. In most restaurants I've been to I've seen the Sushi Chefs use plastic wrap. Once you have your square of rice laid out on your mat you should compare the size and shape of it to your Nori. The Nori should overlap by about a quarter of an inch on one side. This is going to be the part of it that tucks underneath the ingredients as you roll it. About 15% of the way up the Nori you want to begin to lay out the things you want in your Sushi. Obviously I used blanched asparagus, chopped shallots and salmon. It's even pretty good if you add some wasabi into the roll.  Now begin to roll. As the Nori comes across your ingredients (blanched asparagus and shallots, right?) you want to tuck that little tab of Nori underneath it. Continue rolling it. It's a little tricky to not get the parchment paper rolled into the roll. A good way I noticed was to keep pulling the paper back as you were rolling forward. Once you're to the end you're done.

Just like that

Cutting Your Roll:

You should start in the dead center. Once you have two pieces you again cut in the dead center of each section. Continue this process until you have eight equal-sized pieces. If you start at one end and continue you will end up with uneven sized rolls.

Eat Sushi!

Asparagus and Shallot Risotto with Shrimp

w/ Pork stuffed something. I forget actually. I can get back to you on that

.

w/ goat.

To date the biggest fan of this blog said to me after she told me she had read it, "And I don't even like asparagus." She's only the biggest fan because she was the only one that acknowledged to me that she had read it - to my face. Despite that, I am still inclined to think that this is poised to be the best asparagus blog on the internet. It's not hubris when it's accurate. My next recipe is more involved than the last. It's not a difficult recipe, it's just one that takes your attention. Timing is an essential element. You don't want your risotto to be too wet . You also want to cook the asparagus long enough to not be under or over cooked while at the same time not under or over cook your shrimp. Above all else you don't want the strong flavor of the shrimp to downplay the subtle beauty of the asparagus.

Ingredients:

About 3/4 of a bunch of asparagus chopped into bite sized pieces
1 small shallot - about 1 Tbsp diced
3/4 of a lb of shrimp (I like a heavy 3/4)
5 oz of arborio rice
1/2 a teaspoon of sea salt 
2 table spoons of olive oil
1/4 cup of rice wine
3 1/4 to 4 cups of chicken broth
1/2 ounce of grated parmigiano reggiano cheese
1 tablespoon of butter 

Saute shallots

Instructions:

Heat up a large shallow pan.  (Don't use cast iron - it will turn your rice black.) Add about two tablespoons of olive oil and the diced shallot. Let that heat up a bit and cook until the shallot has become almost iridescent. Don't let the shallot brown. Add the rice and let it toast for a minute. Add a quarter cup of rice wine, or if you have a bottle of white wine open that will work too. I discourage you from using red wine because that will stain the rice and you will have an awkward looking dinner. Let the wine simmer down and deglaze the pan. (Scrape all the browning from the bottom of the pan. This is a lot of flavor you don't want to go to waste.) Add two generous ladles of chicken stock. I highly recommend using your own home-made chicken stock. Again scrape the bottom. Keep stirring. Nothing should be sticking. Keep adding broth as it evaporates. About 3 and a half cups of broth will give you an al dente risotto.  It's going to vary from place to place how long you should cook the rice. Stoves have a varying sense of hotness and altitude also plays a role. It's going to take longer than you think it should. It can got between 20 to 40 minutes. When you think the time is appropriate you should add the chopped asparagus. You want the asparagus to become tender, while keeping the rice wet with the broth. Keep this in mind. You can't make the rice less saturated so you shouldn't add too much broth after the asparagus. When the asparagus is at an appropriate level of tenderness - about half-done - you should add the shrimp. Stir and wait. Repeat. Wait until the shrimp has turned pink and turn off the heat.  Add the butter and the cheese, and incorporate into the dish. You need to be cautious of overcooking the shrimp. The trick of the dish is to not over cook the shrimp, the rice or the asparagus. Good Luck!