asparagus

asparagus
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

They are in season again. You know, asparagus. The white kind. They grow inside heaps of earth and do not see the daylight, because then they turn green (or do they? perhaps another color?) Picking them is quite a laborous affair, so they are often expensive to buy. But when you buy them, you buy a lot and indulge: your whole meal is nothing but asparagus. Here I had them the true lazy way: first of all they were on sale in the supermarket around the corner. I know, I know, I should be friends with a local organic grocer and only buy vegetables from him, just like Jamie Oliver does with all his little shops - you know, he walks into some shop and the butcher or grocer or whatever greets him happily, starts his friendly chat, and then hands him the best piece of meat or freshest vegetable, congratulating him on the plans he is having to cook it. Well, that doesn't quite happen with me yet. And I probably never will have a meaningful relationship with either my butcher or my grocer - when I still end up in the supermarket to buy all the other stuff people need in life, like rolls of kitchen paper or sliced bread. But I digress. I bought them the lazy way: the already peeled asparagus were on sale, I bought two packets. We had like 400 grams of asparagus each. Boil them in salted water for around 15 to 20 minutes on a low fire, drain, and put on a heated plate. (Keep the water to make asparagus soup). As the asparagus cooks, boil 6 eggs in a separate pan for around 10 minutes, peel them, and chop finely. Add butter, salt, pepper and nutmeg to make a kind of egg-sauce. Everyone can do this themselves on their own plate in fact. Eat with the nicest ham you can find (I would have needed the organic butcher for this one...) Lovely.

caponata

caponata
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

Every time I eat this, I wonder anew what it is with this appetizer that pleases so. It is very versatile: you can add ingredients to your liking, seeing what is in stock in the kitchen; and similarly, you can drop some ingredients which are not available. Whatever you do, what seems to be the key ingredient is the eggplant I think. After being fried, it becomes very tasty, and when adding the other ingredients and the flavorings, it kind of absorbs the slightly sweet and sour flavour and ties all the other ingredients together. At first it looks like it is a hassle to make and so it is tempting to cut down on either the ingredients' list or the amount of ingredients, but after making it, you will regret not making more, much more! All vegetables are cut into small dice and fried in olive oil. For this version, I used: 1 eggplant, 1 red onion, 3 to 4 celery stalks, and 1 carrot. You can add the tiniest of rosets of cauliflower too, if you like. Start frying the diced eggplant in olive oil, you may have to do it in batches. Then add diced oinion and celery and carrot (or cauliflower). Stir around, then add 3 tablespoons of vinegar and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Taste it, and add more of one or the other to your liking. You can add some small diced red pepper, or pepper flakes too. Let cool. Then add chopped green olives, capers and even chopped gherkins or cornichons. Taste for salt and add more olive oil for a creamier result. You can have this on toast, as an appetizer, or with a meal, you can even have it with pasta, or as a side dish for meats or fish. Believe me, before you know it, you will be back in the store for more eggplants and a new jar of capers!

garlic sprouts with shredded pork

garlic sprouts w/ shredded pork
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

A great discovery at my local supermarket. In fact, I couldn't believe my eyes. Between the packets of mushrooms and spring onions - lo and behold: real suantai, "garlic sprouts". This must be one of the commonest vegetables of Northern China, in fact, garlic sprouts are not highly esteemed at all. The simpelest of vegetables are usually stir fried with either pork of some kind of bacon, or they are eaten with scrambled eggs. A lovely combination. Suantai or garlic sprouts are quite long, about the length of spring onions, but they are not hollow, nor do they resemble chives. I must admit I am not sure if they come from a different kind of garlic bulb, because somehow I don't believe they will come up like this if you leave garlic unattended in a heap of earth to sprout. They are surprisingly hard and become very crunchy after stir-frying; they have a very nice bite and taste like garlic, but without its sharpness. In China, these almost not a vegetable-vegetable are so common they are not easily found in restaurants, but once eaten, you will become addicted to their flavour. So, can you believe it? Who else will buy this from my supermarket than me? I am sure in a couple of weeks they will have disappeared, so I stocked up on 3 packets (100 gram each) and made this simple stir fry. Take 100 grams of pork (I used pork chops) and cut into strips. Marinate in 2 tablespoons of soy, 1 tablespoon of cornstarch and 1 tablespoon of rice wine. Cut the stalks into 4 cm long strips and fry in 3 tablespoons of oil. Take out. Then fry the meat until done, then add the garlic sprouts, a bit of salt and more soy or even a drop of sesame oil and the end. I think this dish should have had double the amount of sprouts to meat, so my example here is not quite right... Try to find it near you and try it out! I found more pictures on Flickr of this lovely vegetable here, as you can see, most of the dishes have a bacon-garlic-sprout combination.

bulgur salad

bulgur salad
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

From Claudia Roden's Arabesque, which I bought last week. It looked very appetizing in the book, and bulgur is such an easy staple; you just pour water over it an leave it to stand for 20 minutes or so until done. I make it often in summer with tomatoes and cucumber dice and herbs to make a tabouleh salad. Here, from Claudia's recipe: take 200 grams of bulgur and pour 125 mls of water over it, leave until grain is tender. I used the darker variety, which didn't turn out as soft as I hoped, it still had a little bit too much crunch to it. Then, add a tablespoon of tomato paste, 4 diced tomatoes, juice of 1,5 lemons; a splosh of olive oil, 1 green chili pepper, chopped finely, 5 spring onions, and parsley and mint; and salt and pepper to taste. Spoon the mixture in all in Little Gem lettuce to serve. It really looks appetizing; pretty lemony! but a nice starter for a summer meal. It will keep for hours without becoming soggy - the tastes will mingle, which is a good thing.... I made the courgette fritters, too, they tasted excellent!