40 ~ Asparagus Time

(click to enlarge)

Just to keep up with this time of the year, I'm putting in a couple of things I've made from asparagus. April and May are the months of the spring asparagus harvest, and although it doesn't grow well in this warm climate, we still strive to put it on the table one way or another, fresh, frozen, tinned or from a glass jar.

Asparagus Pinwheels:

First cut sheets of puff pastry in long strips the width of the asparagus stalks and spread them lightly with cream cheese, then add two or three asparagus stalks, rolling them up inside the dough until you have a small log. Cut the log into thick slices and lay them on a floured cooking tray. Put in the oven at 200°C for 20 minutes or until puffed and golden. Next time I'll add chopped caramelized onion inside the rolls, and perhaps some paté or smoked salmon instead of cream cheese.

But we've had some warm sunshine the past two days and we could finally sit outside for lunch on the back garden patio today. There were so many birds flying back and forth across the garden. Since I've been feeding them they have become quite bold and will come near when they spot a dish of dry cat food on the ground.

The blackbirds were serenading us all the while as we took in the beauty of the larkspur and roses.

Our outdoor dinner today was white asparagus from Germany, served in a traditional style with boiled potatoes, hard cooked egg, sliced ham, hollandaise sauce and melted butter.

Dessert was mixed berries dusted with sugar, over vanilla ice cream.

And the baby blackbirds watch me through the window as they sit in their food dish ....

And the peaches slowly ripen on the tree...