Spring, Time for Asparagus

A girlfriend from high school just got transferred (from Bogor) to Mainz in January. Now that we live close to each other, a get-together is a must! And we finally made it on May Day.

:: Tips ::

• If you are purchasing fresh asparagus look for firm, crisp stalks with compact, brightly colored, closed tips.


• The best way to store fresh asparagus is in the refrigerator upright in a drinking glass or jar filled with about an inch of water. Place a plastic bag loosely around the top. It should last three to four days stored in this way.

For our lunch I wanted to make something easy but tasty, so I settled for asparagus and fish. I'd already tried this fish recipe before and it was a hit for our family dinner. As usual I got these recipes from chefkoch.de and tweaked them a bit. ^^

White Asparagus
recipe

Ingredients for 4 Portions:
1.3kg white asparagus
salt, sugar, butter

Baked Pangasius* in Parchment Wraps
recipe
* according to wikipedia they're called tra, swai or striped catfish in english, but I've no idea which one is the usual term used >.<


Ingredients for 4 Portion:
300g potatoes
2 Zucchini, green and yellow (or 1 Zucchini and 1 red or yellow pepper)
4 sprigs fresh rosemary
4 sprigs fresh thyme
16 cherry tomatoes, cut into halves
1 clove garlic
4 Pangasiusfilet*, à ca. 200g
salt, pepper, olive oil
juice from 1/2 lemon

Directions:

1. Peel the asparagus and cut away the bottom, hard part of the stalks. Set aside the good parts; wash the rest and put them into a pot, add water (about 1 liter), cook until it boils. Let it cool.


2. Meanwhile peel the potatoes, cut them and the zucchini into 1cm cubes. Mince the garlic. Heat the olive oil in the pan, add the garlic, cook and stir for a few minutes until fragrant. Add the potatoes and zucchini cubes, cook for 10 minutes until tender. Add salt and pepper to your liking.


3. Preheat oven to 200°C. Arrange the asparagus in double aluminium foil, about 5 asparagus in each packet. Add salt, pepper, butter and 2-3 tbs asparagus stock. Wrap the packets tightly and put them in the oven.


4. Prepare 5 sheets of baking paper. Put each filet in each packet. Add salt, pepper, the potatoes-zucchini cubes, cherry tomatoes, lemon juice, sprigs of rosemary and thyme, and the olive oil. Put them in the oven.


5. After 15 minutes, the fish should be cooked and the asparagus tender.


6. Serve with baguette, ciabatta or focaccia. Yummy!

As dessert we had panna cotta, bf and sis were so delighted. ^_^