開心的白蘆筍季 White Asparagus! White Asparagus! White Asparagus!

白蘆筍季又到了. 我一向認為要是可以拿到大又肥美的白蘆筍, 就該大肆慶祝！而最好的慶祝方式當然就是找群好朋友們來吃吃喝喝. 在計畫菜單的時候, 我希望可以原味地呈現白蘆筍同時還有時間可以“加入”派對 (而不是一直卡在廚房裡), 所以就先sous vide了一批白蘆筍, 然後做出三道變化穿插在其他的菜中.

So it’s the white asparagus season again! My motto is, if you can get a hold of these beautiful babies, you do something with them. And what else is better than throwing a party?

When putting together the menu, I wanted to showcase the juiciness and the delicate flavor of white asparagus without having to be stuck in the kitchen and miss out on all these conversations and fun. So I sous vide a batch and did a white asparagus three-way.

Sous Vide White Asparagus 

• 清洗, 去掉底部太硬的部份以及削掉纖維粗的外皮/ Clean and peel. Snap off the tough bottom part.
• 把處理好的蘆筍放入真空袋裡, 淋上橄欖油後密封/ vacuum pack with drizzle of olive oil.
• 82℃, 40 ~ 60 分/ minutes.

White Asparagus . Proscuitto . Parmigiano 

• 把白蘆筍裝盤, 先淋上一些橄欖油, 放上帕馬火腿, 削幾片帕馬森起司, 然後撒上少許的鹽之花或海鹽以及新鮮黑胡椒就可以了.
• Take white asparagus out from the bag, plate with drizzle of olive oil, slices of proscuitto, parmigiano, then a pinch of fleur de sel (sea salt will be just fine as well) and some freshly ground black pepper. That’s it! (Could be served chilled or hot, it depends on your preference).

 

Salad . White Asparagus . Grapefruit . Serrano Ham .  Dijon Vinaigrette 

這道食譜的靈感來自於在柏林時造訪的 Kochhaus . 因為買不到嫩芝麻葉, 所以就用芝麻葉混上frisee (捲鬚萵苣)做底去中和 芝麻葉的味道.

This recipe is inspired by Kochhaus in Germany. I couldn’t somehow get any baby arugula, so I mixed arugula and frisee as the salad base.

PREPARE 

• 芝麻葉/ Arugula 
• 捲鬚萵苣/ Frisee 
• 5-6支sous vide過的白蘆筍切小段/ 5-6 sous vide white asparagus, cut into 3cm pieces  
• 2顆葡萄柚(只取果肉) 2 grapefruit, sectioned 
• 1顆檸檬的汁/ 1 lemon, juiced
• 西班牙serrano火腿/ serrano ham 
• 海鹽及黑胡椒/ sea salt & black pepper 
• 牛至少許/ oregano 
• 2大匙的第戎芥末/ 2 tablespoon dijon mustard 
• 橄欖油/ olive oil 
• sous vide蘆筍的湯汁/ juice from sous vide asparagus 

MAKE

• 將生菜洗淨後徹底濾乾
• 第戎芥末沙拉醬: 在大碗內加入橄欖油, 芥末醬, 檸檬汁, 蘆筍湯汁與鹽和胡椒後拌勻直到醬汁變得有一點濃稠
• 將沙拉, 蘆筍, 葡萄柚果肉與切碎的牛至葉與沙拉醬拌勻後裝盤, 最後再放上西班牙火腿即完成將生菜洗淨後徹底濾乾
  • Clean and dry the arugula and frisee thoroughly. 
  • Dijon Vinaigrette:  in a mixing bowl add in olive oil, dijon mustard, lemon juice, salt and pepper, juice of asparagus. Mix well until it reaches a good consistency. 
  • Combine the salad base with white asparagus, chopped oregano, grapefruit sections, vinaigrette and salt & pepper. Plate with serrano ham on top of the salad. 

 White asparagus . Soft Boiled Egg . Sprinkle of Spring

• 先sous vide蛋 (64度, 40分鐘). 因為蛋的味道會完全展現, 強烈建議使用品質較好的蛋. 裝盤時先擺上蛋, 然後淋上橄欖油, 鹽之花或海鹽, 新鮮黑胡椒, 少許七味辣椒粉, 最後是在Kochhaus發現的乾燥花瓣.
• Sous vide egg: 64℃, 40 minutes (you will really taste the egg, so high quality egg is highly recommended). Plate white asparagus with the soft boiled egg, drizzle on top some olive oil, pinch of sea salt/fleur de sel, freshly ground black pepper, some Japanese 7-pepper spice then sprinkle of dried flower petals. Another easy one.

走進大食譜/ Walk-in Recipe Book: Kochhaus, Berlin

我其實是個很愛逛超市/市場的人. 但即使如此, 常常還是會陷入繞了超市十圈卻找不齊所有材料, 或是瞪著某個新奇食材卻不確定自己會不會處理的窘境. 出發到柏林之前正好讀到Kochhaus的介紹, 這麼有趣的地方怎能不去看看？

走進Kochhaus比較像走進一本大型的立體食譜而不是超市. 深色的木頭桌子各以一食譜為主題, 陳列著所有需要用到的材料：小至雞湯塊, 貼心到連搭配的葡萄酒都挑好了！要是想要保留食譜, 一份0.5歐元.

Okay!! Grocery shopping. My experience often involves circling around the (super) market, trying to locate all ingredients I need (and forgetting one thing or two during the ordeal) or staring at an interesting looking ingredient yet have no idea what to do with it. So when I read about Kochhaus before headed to Berlin, I knew I gotta go check it out.

Kochhaus is a walk-in recipe book concept. Upon entering the store, I see dark wood tables each devoted to a single recipe. And on the table, there’s pretty much all the ingredients you will need to execute the recipe, including something as tiny as chicken stock cubes and even….. wines to pair with!! Hallelujah.

( Also, you could pick up a copy of the recipe for €0.50).

To me, this is better than Rachel Ray’s 30-Minute Meal and definitely much better than the corner take-out or even the prepared food isle.

四週的牆上有食譜區(包括與食物相關的書寫), 調味料, 葡萄酒, 餐具與廚房用具, 店裡也有現做咖啡與一些輕食. 雖然不是琳琅滿目的大規模超市, 但是卻很有魅力與特色. 即使不能像個柏林人一樣在下班回家的途中挑個食譜回家作頓晚餐, 我買了份食譜, ㄧ瓶裝滿春天氣息的乾燥花瓣與一瓶Barolo後開心地漫步在Schoneberg的街道上.

回到台北以後我查了一下, Kochhaus其實是幾個年輕的創業家開發出來的新概念. 在這個大家抓破頭只求下一個飲食新點子的時代, 這樣一個簡單卻實用的存在不知道為甚麼很振奮人心. 紐約時報在2010年Kochhaus剛起步的時候曾經報導過他們, 行銷總監Stober說Kochhaus的每一道食譜(ㄧ人份)都在10歐元以下, 不超過12道步驟, 準備時間也不超過1小時— 這樣的設置的確讓在家做菜又簡單了一些.

而幾個星期後, 這些在柏林的靈感與收穫都進了白蘆筍派對食客們的肚子裡.

On the walls surround these recipe tables, a wonderful collection of cookbooks/food writing, spices, wines, cookware and tableware completes the display. Not a mega store, but there’s an intellectual epicerie kind of feeling to it. It was end of April, and the store was featuring white asparagus. I picked up a copy of recipe (White Asparagus Salad with Grapefruit Vinaigrette and Parma Ham), a tiny jar of dried flower petals that screams Spring and a bottle of Barolo. Despite the fact I do not have the privilege of being a Berliner to go straight home and cook myself a great dinner, I felt inspired.

After returning home, i did some research on Kochhaus and found out it’s actually a young start-up. New York Times did a piece on them in 2010, Stober, Kochhaus’ Marketing Director says: “The rules we make for ourselves are strict and easy to understand: no dish costs more than €10, about $13, a serving; no dish takes more than one hour to prepare; there are no more than twelve steps to any recipe; there are never more than twenty recipes to choose from in the store, although two new ones are rotated in each week.” In the world where all F &B ehnthusiastics and professionals are pulling their hair out to come up with new concepts, I have to say this one is simple, straight forward and well executed.

Few weeks later, I happily took the inspiration and recipe to cook for  my White Asparagus Party!

Kochhaus Schoneberg/ Akazienstrabe 1 10823 Berlin