Monday, April 28, 2008

Asperges

We're moving into the height of asparagus season. The local stuff is starting to drop in price. There's a guy at the Saturday market in Saint-Aignan who sets up a little table and sells what he produces on his land; he sells mostly honey, I think, when it's not asparagus season.

White asparagus ready for the pot.

The first time we got some this year, about three weeks ago, he didn't have any yet. Another stand was selling some spears that came up from les Landes, down in southwestern France. The price was €7,90 a kilo.

Last week our local guy had his and it was €6,95 a kilo, and this week it was down to €5,50. I don't know if we'll see it go down below €4,00 this year (as in years past), but we'll certainly be happy if it does!

Simmering spears.

So Saturday's market haul included a kilo of white asparagus (picked on Friday evening), some lettuce, radishes, and strawberries. Then I stopped into the butcher shop for a couple escalopes de veau (a real good price!). While in there I couldn't resist a couple of saucisses basquaises for the freezer and a slice of tête de veau persillée.

For lunch, Ken sautéed the veal and made a mushroom and cream sauce to go with it. We served that along side the cooked asparagus. Yum!

4 comments:

  1. How do you two decide who's going to cook? If I had the wonderful raw materials you have to cook with, I'd want to be the cook for every meal.

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  2. "a slice of tête de veau persillée"
    Walt, is this what they call "museaux de veau"?
    I am hoping to eat the "museaux de boeuf" when I am in France this June. I can't get it in Montreal and there is a bistrot in Paris where I know I can have it :-)

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  3. Do you ever try the wild asparagus?

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  4. louise, we each have the things we like to do, and rarely have to worry about who does what.

    beaver, it's similar, but the chunks of meat are bigger in the tête, I think, and museau can be sliced very thinly and served in a salad. It's good, too!

    susan/simon, I haven't really looked for any, so no. I should get out there one of these days and try to find some.

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