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Asparagus Tapas</font>
I took advantage of early Spring weather in Baltimore to
make sangria, grill, and cook asparagus Iron Chef style.
So here are what I considered as the "starter tapas"
Cream of White Asparagus
Serrano Ham with Idiazabal Smoked Sheepsmilk Cheese, Wrapped With Asparagus Ribbon
Asparagus Liquid Ravioli
Cream of White Asparagus
2-3 cups of white asparagus
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup milk
1 T butter
1 T flour
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1/8 t salt
white pepper to taste
ground coriander
White asparagus has a stringy exterior that is tough to chew, so peel the outside. It should go from having a dull finish to a satiny surface.
Steam the asparagus. Puree, adding chicken stock to help make it liquid and smooth.
Next, heat butter, and add flour. Coat all flour with the fat, then add milk and cream, salt and pepper. Bring to the point of boiling. The base should thicken. Add vegetable and the rest of the stock, and bring to boil again. Simmer for 5-10 minutes.
I served the soup in small cups and topped with ground coriander for a subtle addition of color and flavor. See photo above.
Serrano Ham with Idiazabal Smoked Sheepsmilk Cheese, Wrapped With Asparagus Ribbon
Right after the ingredient announcement, loose passive posted a recipe for roasted asparagus wrapped with pancetta. I decided to play on that by inverting it to make a tasty cold platter for the tapas. I rolled up paper thin slices of serrano ham, then topped them with a strip of
Idiazabal, a smoked cheese made from sheeps milk in the Basque region.
To invert it, I wrapped this combination in "asparagus ribbon". Basically, I used a vegetable peeler to strip some off of asparagus I was going to steam and puree for other dishes, then I steamed it to make the ribbon pliant.
Here is the assembly area:
And finally I completed the plate with olives:
Asparagus Liquid Ravioli
For the bath:
4 cups water
1 tsp calcium chloride
For the liquid ravioli:
1/2 cup pureed asparagus
2/3 cup water
1/2 tsp sodium alginate
salt
1 shallot
First make the bath by stirring the calcium chloride into the water in a baking dish.
Mix until it dissolves completely, and then chill.
Next, mix the water and sodium alginate in a small sauce pan. Use an immersion
blender (hand mixer) to completely mix the two. The result is a watery gelatin.
Bring to a boil, stir the whole time, then let this cool.
Once the alginate is cool, mix in the asparagus puree. Use the immersion blender again to get a thorough mix.
Mince the shallot and saute ntil browned.
Using a measuring spoon with a hemisphere shape, scoop out the asparagus mixture, then gently turn it into the calcium chloride bath. The mix will gel up and float. See the photo. After 30 seconds or so spoon them out and rinse them off.
Season the asparagus liquid ravioli with salt (I have a rabbit ear sea salt grinder, and I gave it a squeeze over the spoon). Then sprinkle with the shallot. Serve immediately.
