Iron Chef OOT 3/8-3/18

[CardSharpCook]

Congrats to last week's top Duck, Analyst! For this week's contest, he has chosen Asparagus:


One app, one entree, with photos and recipes. Sunday, 3/18 is the turn in date.

[CardSharpCook]

Past Contests: Cabbage, Sweet Potato, Bacon, Rice, Beef, Avocado, Ricotta, Garlic, Catfish, Radish, & Duck

Past Winners: Matt2500, Analyst(2), Mrs. Utah(4), StevieG, ElSapo, and Ron Burgandy(2)

[loose passive]

I made this a few weeks ago.....

Not really an entry


Asparagus wrapped with pancetta


Clean asparagus
wrap 3-4 peices with pancetta
salt and pepper, and a dash of oilive oil
roast at 400 degrees for 12 minutes
enjoy

[ElSapo]

My pee smells funky just thinking about this...

Something many probably know but some don't:

[Warning - unsubstantiated scientific claim ahead]

Ask most people, and they will say asparagus makes their pee smell funky. But for the few that say it does not -- asparagus changes the way everyone's pee smells, but some people are genetically pre-disposed not to smell it.

I always thought that was cool. Assuming it's true.

[SamIAm]

wiki:

[/ QUOTE ]Some of the constituents of asparagus are metabolised and excreted in the urine, giving it a distinctive, mildly unpleasant odor. The smell is caused by various sulfur-containing degradation products (e.g. thiols and thioesters). Studies showed that about 40% of the test subjects displayed this characteristic smell; and a similar percentage of people are able to smell the odor once it is produced. There does not seem to be any correlation between peoples' production and detection of the smell.[1] The speed of onset of urine smell is rapid, and has been estimated to occur within 15-30 minutes from ingestion.

[SamIAm]

Now that I think about it, everybody I've ever talked to about asparagus says it makes their pee smell funny. POLL!!

Is it genetic? I remember my parents warning me about asparagus. (It's probably a great way to get little boys to eat their vegetables. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img])

I admit that the question below combines both smelling questions, (transitive and intransitive) but I think it'll still be high.

[guids]

Ive always assumed everyones pee smells after asparagus. Goldmember was just on for gods sake!

[geormiet]

CSC -

do you think iron chef threads should belong in the El D forum rather than OOT?

[StevieG]

<font color="green">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.

[Mermade]

Damn Stevie G! Look at you getting all El Bulli-like. Wow.