Mussels two ways with Asparagus

A frozen package of mussels found its way into my shopping basket at the supermarket. I was looking for some scallops, but they were out. A while ago I found a recipe from 3 Michelin star Chef Witzigmann. He took the mussels to an other level. Hid some in pasta and the other open in the sauce. But since it was a high end recipe, the mussels were still in their shells.

I did the recipe my way, but two ways too. The idea of the recipe stuck to me. But I had to work with the ingredients I had in stock. Since we still are in the first part of asparagus season, some of them went into this dish. And asparagus goes very well with mussels.

The preptime depends on your ability to make a pasta dough and have it rolled out very thin. You will need some eggwash as glue to close the pasta later.

My sauce base was a quick one. I had a little container of seafood base or lobster base at home. Just the right amount of water and some double cream and the sauce was ready for the other ingredients. That took only 5 minutes.

Ingredients for 2:

225 g defrosted mussels, 1 shallot, 1 clove of garlic, 1 tbsp olive oil, 50 ml white wine

salt and pepper, 4 stalks white asparagus, 1 stalk tarragon, 3 stalks thyme, 1 egg

1 pot of seafood or lobster stock, 100 ml double cream, 3 stalks green asparagus and the 4 tips of the white ones.

Chop shallot and garlic, peel the white asparagus, set the tips aside for the sauce and chop it very fine. Take halves of the mussels and cut them up in small chunks. 

Put that all in a pan with some oil and cook for 3 min, add the wine and salt and pepper and some herbs and cook the wine down completely. Add the mussels to warm through. Get it out of the pan onto a cold plate to cool down.

Cut the pasta sheets into 12 cm rectangles and fill with cold mussel mix. Brush egg wash around and make the pasta packages. Try not to leave too much air in, otherwise the pasta will open up in the water. Cook for 4 min in heavy salted water.

Make the sauce and add the green and white asparagus, the tarragon and the thyme and season with salt and pepper. Bring everything together.

Chocolate Pudding with red Cameroon Cocoa

I checked the Internet for good quality baking cocoa. In the supermarkets around me the choices are very limited. Mostly drinking chocolate with lots of sugar is offered.

Well known for baking cocoa is VanHouten.

The Dutch are famous for the type of unsweetened cocoa. Since I was a little kid, my Mom always used VanHouten to make hot chocolate or bake cakes with it.

I found VanHouten Red Cameroon Cocoa.

Yesterday I needed something comforting in the afternoon and decides on some pudding.

Not the Dr.Oetker kind out of a package, but the homemade version. I can't remember when I ever made chocolate pud without the trusty package kind.

I used the Thermomix, but since I had no reference how it worked without the helper, I underestimated to amount of starch to get the right consisteny. I ended up with chocolate milk at first. Then I poured it in a pot and added more starch and finally reached the right level of a classic pudding.

I tasted a bit hot from the pot- amazing! Even without any of my usual helpers such as egg, coffee granulates and chocolate pieces.

Ingredients:

500 ml whole milk, 45 g sugar, 50 g corn starch

2 1/2 tbsp red cameroon cocoa, 1 tsp vanilla extract

 

Asparagus Soup with Alphabet pasta and wild Garlic

When you look for an asparagus soup you will find mostly cream soups. I wanted some kind of cream free soup. 

I had salad with white asparagus last weekend and kept the cooking liquid. It was made from boiling the peel and the off cuts first and later the asparagus chunks. That made an intense aspargus taste, but otherwise it was bland. I have a wonderful jar of organic vegetable stock that was made local. That helped a lot to get some taste into the liquid.

Recipe:

750 ml asparagus stock, 1 tbsp veg stock base

Chili salt, pepper

4 asparagus stalks cooked

50 g Alphabet pasta

3 tsp vegan wild garlic paste

Skewer with garlic prawns

Just peel the asparagus and cook them in the stock. Cook the pasta in salted water. Bring it together, add seasoning and the prawns and top off with the green stuff.

Wild Garlic Cream - vegan

This time of the year before the start of asparagus season, wild garlic season starts. Due to our very long cold winter temperatures, it was a lot later than most years. Even now in May you get some.

I wanted to prepare it as an oil first, but that would take up to two weeks. Then I thought about a "pesto", but I needed something without cheese. The more basic, the better.

Checking my dry storage I found an unopened bag of cashew nuts. Why not!

Recipe:

50 g wild garlic, zest of 1/2 organic lemon, salt, pepper, 

25 g cashew nuts, 60 ml rapeseed oil

Asparagus Tuna and Tomato Salad

More Recipes with the white gold to come. The season here is still not in full swing because it is too cold for this time of year. It was the coldest April since the last 40 years. Prices per Kilo are still high.

This is a nice Sunday salad. Either as a side dish for 4 people or a huge salad as a main course for 1.

Recipe:

500 g white asparagus, 120 g canned tuna, 1 shallot, 200 g cherry tomatoes, 5 quail eggs, lots of basil and more fresh herbs

1/4 tsp honey, 3 tbsp pink balsamic vinegar, 5 tbsp olive oil, lemon sea salt, pepper

Peel the asparagus and cook it until done. Cool down. Cook the quail eggs for 3 min. Drain the tuna.

Peel the shallot and cut it into half rings. Put them in a small bowl and pour boiling water on top. After 1 min drain the onions and put under cold water.

Quarter the cherry tomatoes. Chop the herbs and make the dressing. Bring everything together.

Scrambled Egg Soufflé

I think it was on Tastemade that someone poured sparkling water into egg white and beat it to soft peaks and then added a lot of stuff to it.

I did only watch it on the side and was not able to find it again. But the idea stuck. Why not give it a try. 

The egg scramble came out very fluffy, but it also leeked some water. The added cheeses made it salty and I had some cheese pull. But next time I try more cheese. I dumped lots of frozen herbs in too. 

Cooking time depends on how firm you like your eggs. Do not cook it too long, the airy consistency will go away.

3 eggs separated, 100 ml sparkling water, salt and pepper, 1 tbsp Parmesan, 4 tbsp grated Gouda, chopped fresh herbs, oil

I ate it with some mashed potatoes.

Tuna Pasta Bake with Mozzarella

Today iS MAY 1. Since it is a Saturday and everything is closed I had to do some of grocery shopping on Friday. Since we are in a hard lockdown in the moment, skipping in a shop is not so easy. You have to wait in line to get in. I just bought a few things and was out in a jiffy.

This pasta bake is easy to prepare. While you cook the elbow pasta, you start the sauce.

Recipe for 2:

250 g elbow pasta, 2 large spring onions, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 red chili, 1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp tomato paste, 150 ml double cream, 300 ml chopped tinned tomatoes, 110 g tins of tuna, 1 ball mozzarella

2 stalks oregano, majoram, ysop, sage, rosemary, 2 tsp paprika powder, salt and pepper

Preheat the oven 200 C

Chop onions, garlic and chili and drain the tuna. Saute in oil the first 3 until the oniond get a little soft. Add the tomato paste and season with salt and pepper. Now in with the cream and stir well. Add the tinned tomatoes

Next comes 1/2 of the tuna. Break it apart and add paprika to the sauce. Mix the past in and loosen it. Pour in a buttered oven proof dish. Spread the remaining tuna on top. Slice the mozzarella and finish the dish with it.

Bake for 25 - 30 min.