Green asparagus seems to be a rarity in our part of France which surprises me as it features on the menus of many local restaurants at this time of year whilst, in the shops, it remains as rare as an interesting conversation about the election. It may be that our bucolic little corner of France is so deeply rustic that, in the infuriating policyspeak of the retailer, “there is no call for it”. I have called loudly for it, but answer was there none.The best that one can hope for is to grab one of the few bundles of green spears that appear, momentarily, among the piles of fat and pallid sex toys known as white asparagus. Maybe this part of the Common Market is too common for the delicacy of fine, green asparagus, although I’m pretty sure that the word “common” is not in favour with the politically correct. “Posh” is, but “common” isn’t. A good example of would be “Posh Spice” as opposed to “Slightly Less Common Spice”, the latter being positively proscribed….do not go there. Moving on; when one is lucky enough to fall upon a bunch of the green stuff there is, in this season, the added pleasure of knowing that, nearby, will be piles of the most delicious young potatoes from the Île de Noirmoutier. Potatoes such as these make perfect partners for green asparagus, particularly if gobs of melting, sweet butter are included in the equation…these flavours trumpet the arrival of Spring and bring a smile to my face.
I’m very much looking forward to asparagus, but it will be another month before there’s any local stuff here. I’m not counting the supermarket stuff, that comes from countries far too far away and who knows how long the English stuff has been in the supermarket chain. I believe carrots can be picked and processed with a view to being on the shelves in 18 months time 😦
It’s sad that I’m not surprised…about the carrots, that is. In our neighbours barn there are sand filled wooden coffin like boxes that are filled with carrots stored in the sand:they seem to keep for ages. I have a feeling that chemicals might come into the supermarket equation:)
Carrots do keep well in sand, or left in the ground, but I’m not keen on the idea of 18 months plus. I believe the most common form of preservation these days is nitrogen. I don’t think there’s a problem with this method, but fruit and vegetables start to loose vitamins and taste when you pick them.
Fugitive flavour is the term, I believe. One heard of old buffers who would take a paraffin stove to the asparagus patch so that they could cook them on the spot:)
Exactly – in the case of asparagus the less time it takes to get from field to mouth the better 😉
Apparently the same goes for trout:)
I’ve never caught trout, but I do wish I’d tried mackerel sushi straight from the sea, the last time I caught one (a very long time ago).
We used to catch mackerel when, as a child, we holidayed on in Salcombe. We used to rent an old Brixham trawler, anchored in the harbour, and go fishing for mackerel in the early morning…nice memories:)
Me too, though St. Ives in Cornwall. I’d never heard of sushi or sashimi back then. Pasta with a garlicky tomato sauce was considered adventurous all those years ago 😉
🙂
Are you calling loudly enough Roger? Like Mad, am awaiting asparagus season – not long now!
I keep on knocking but I can’t get in 🙂
Interesting. White asparagus is much more expensive in Japan with green ones being more common. However these big green ones I just wrote about, you would have to go and look.
https://ayakomathies.wordpress.com/2015/04/09/tis-the-season-4/
I just looked at your site ( and followed it). That asparagus looks delicious and I’m glad you mentioned lots of butter:)
Thank you! I had forgotten how great butter tasted…!
🙂
Gosh, I love green asparagus. I’d be lost without it at the market.
So Charleston is where I need to be 🙂
Running down the back to check our asparagus patch poste haste! we have rain and warm today! No potatoes yet though, that won’t be for a while as they are not even in the ground.. c
Now I’m very jealous…your own asparagus patch! Of course, I always forget the work that goes into creating and looking after it….still jealous:)
There is plenty of green asparagus at the farmer’s markets here in California but it is almost impossible to get any white asparagus. I much prefer the white stalks over the green ones.
Now, we could certainly do a swap….:)
It’s probably not really necessary that I say we have no white asparagus in Alice Springs. We do get green asparagus year round however–but this is not a good thing as most of the year it is imported. I only buy it when it is Australian grown in the early spring. The rest of it can be from South America or wherever, and is tasteless. Enjoy a spear or six for me, will you? Love the baby potatoes too, are they called ‘chats’ anywhere but here?
You have my sympathy. So much asparagus that is grown in far off countries seems to be tasteless. I think that it loses its flavour in storage and in transit…it needs to be eaten as fresh as possible. As for “chats”…I’ve never heard that before…:)
I guess I could propose a tradr for our green stuff for some of your cheese, or for that matter, almost any other food stuff….I am surprised! 🙂
What you’re saying, Christian, is that you’ve got a hell of a lot of good asparagus…isn’t it. Very envious:)
Admit to a peculiar sense of humour! Completely as an aside I feel about 95% of people have no idea of the derivation of the acronym POSH or its true meaning 🙂 ! Have had some wicked fun re that short blessed word when I say I do hope I am a little bit POSH !!! Oh, and I DO love white asparagus: it was oft served on our yearly spring fair trips in Northern Germany and I would honestly have it on a daily basis . . .
They love their white asparagus, the Germans..that’s for sure. I did a TV commercial for a Maggi Hollandaise sauce and had to go to Nestle, in Frankfurt for a briefing. They explained that the Germans ate it with white asparagus and that a normal serving would be 6 big spears of white asparagus, 6 boiled potatoes and 2 slices of Black Forest ham….makes me wonder how Britain became the the 2nd fattest nation on the planet:)
🙂 ! The ‘elegant’ restaurant serving: the six spears, usually no potatoes unless it is the main course and very thinly sliced Westphalian ham – I use the dried Italian ones here. Not too kilojoule rich that way 😀 !!! But most of our asparagus does happen to be green . . .
I guess Nestle wasn’t aiming at the “elegant” market:)
I have been used to white asparagus back in Germany, which is really hard to get here in Southern California. Got used to green asparagus , love it now. Sometimes I just place it in the oven with olive oil, fresh garlic, pepper and salt and let it bake until crisp.
That’s a wonderful way of cooking it, Cornelia….perfect:)
I reallybelieve that if you keep asking for it – maybe while waving around some sweet butter in the manner of many French politicians 🙂 – there will be more asparagus!
Great reply…Sarkozy dripping his sweet butter all over the supermarche…excellent:)
Green one is my favorite, I don’t fancy the white one for some reason. I can see the weather is getting better- it was really cold in Lyon this time! Fabulous picture!
You’ll have to move southwards in France then. Where we were, the green stuff is as widely available as the white, but being less highly regarded, is significantly cheaper. Result!
If only…:)
Asparagus and taters for sure… and maybe with a nice piece of fish and some salsa verde… Amen brother!
Love salsa verde…such a good thing:)
One of my all time favourite sauces 🙂
Fresh asparagus + new potatoes + “gobs of melting sweet butter” = quelle joie! Thanks for the reminder. I’ll be shopping at French markets in two weeks and the countdown is on!
Enjoy:)
I was never that keen on white asparagus but now a mental image which ensures that I will never put one in my mouth ever again!
Oh God…I never imagined a Pavlovian reaction…I’ll have to be more careful, in future:)
I’ll not soon forget the description of “pallid sex toys known as white asparagus.” Hilarious. There are few food things the French get wrong, but that’s one of them. Why ruin such a lovely vegetable by covering it up and keeping it from turning green?
I blame the Germans….it’s always a good idea:)
Hating to rub it in, we have tons of green asparagus already in our markets, locally grown here in Northern California (right there by those artichokes I told you about before). Right now they are thin, but we should soon be getting nice fat ones. Thanks for the great idea of the addition of potatoes. I generally roast the asparagus with olive oil, garlic salt and pepper, but the butter sounds like much more fun.
I am envious…they’re very good when they’re young and thin…I think they travel under the name of “sprue” at that point in their development..
I am reading your conversations and am delighted. I did not know that you picked the vegetable and the vitamin content starts to deplete. It makes sense. I will be eating fresh veggies fresher – quicker than before. Now that I know. Thx
Excellent….although it’s difficult to find really fresh vegetables…unless you have friends that grow them:)