Asparagus season

This year I've noticed that, in our market at least, the asparagus is not as abundant as in past years. I'm talking about the local stuff that's grown not far from here. I bought a bunch on Saturday and the vendor told me that it's been slow growing, and that some days the harvest was good, but on other days there was nothing to pick. And then there were some fields where the asparagus was no good and unsellable. I wonder what it is? A week ago his asparagus was going for €9.50/kilo (about US $4.70/lb); this week it was down to €6.00/kilo (about US $2.95/lb).

I'll make this dish a time or two more before the season ends.

He also told me that their strawberries, which are also normally abundant now, were slow to flower this year, and he won't have his first berries until next week. There are local strawberries to be found, and I got some on Saturday from another vendor, but my normal supplier is having trouble. I hope it gets better for him.

Meanwhile, I made our annual asparagus and ham tarte for Sunday's lunch. If you don't remember, the white asparagus is peeled and cooked, then wrapped in ham slices, placed in an egg and cheese (parmesan) custard, then baked until done. We ate it with pan-fried potatoes. Delicious!