It's asparagus season! The true fifth season for many, judging by the euphoria that the first green and white spears trigger everywhere ... we are no exception and have actually been thinking for a long time about which wine to declare the asparagus wine of the year: this year it has become the Camaleaõ, a fabulous Vinho Verde from Portugal. Sparkling and light and absolutely excellent with the delicious spring vegetable.
Once the wine question is settled, the next one arises: what should I eat with asparagus? Melted butter, Hollandaise sauce, cooked or raw ham? Egg? Pancakes? Our answer is: sardines! And butter!
The combination of green and white asparagus with the fine sardines fried in barrel butter from Beillevaire with lemon from La Perle des Dieux was devised by Thomas Vetter from the Sardinen.Bar. I visited him in his shop in Berlin Schöneberg and cooked the recipe together with him.
A quick Hollandaise sauce was also added and a quick little film also came out. It shows all the steps in time-lapse. For those for whom that is too fast, there is a classic text version a little further down.
Ingredients:
- Asparagus
- Sardines in butter and lemon (or with pepper) from La Perle des Dieux
- Butter
- Olive oil
- 1 lemon
- 1 orange
- Sugar
- Salt and pepper
- Potatoes
- Eggs
- Herb essence*: 1 part water, 1 part white wine, 1 part white vinegar, 10 peppercorns, 6 shallots, 6 allspice berries, 1 clove, 1 bay leaf, parsley, tarragon, chervil
- Roasted cocktail tomatoes** (optional as decoration): cocktail tomatoes, olive oil, salt & pepper, thyme, garlic, rosemary, powdered sugar.
All ingredients at a glance are available here.
Preparation:
The green asparagus does not need to be peeled, at most cleaned up a bit. However, the ends should be cut off, as they are usually a bit woody. So that it stays nice and crisp, it is only blanched very briefly in boiling salt water and shocked in cold water. This way it retains its beautiful green color.
The white asparagus must be peeled and freed from the ends. During this time, it is best to already boil a pot of water with some lemon and orange peel and juice, a pinch of sugar and salt. Then turn off the heat and cook the asparagus in the hot (no longer boiling) water covered with kitchen paper. The kitchen paper prevents the asparagus from floating to the surface of the water. This way it stays nice and deep in the hot water and cooks evenly. The asparagus is ready when it is al dente. This can best be tested with a sharp knife.
Potatoes are recommended as an accompaniment to asparagus. The simple version is boiled potatoes in their skins or boiled in salt water. Optionally, the potatoes can also be cut into slices, placed on a baking sheet or in a fireproof dish, sprinkled with salt, pepper and olive oil, and then baked in the oven until they are lightly browned.
For the Hollandaise sauce: melt the butter in a pot and continue to cook until it clarifies. Then the whey has settled at the bottom of the pot and burned. This causes the butter to discolor slightly brown and get a fine nutty aroma. Pour the resulting "nut butter" through a sieve (optionally lined with kitchen paper) to obtain only the clear butter without the burned whey.
Separate 4 egg yolks from the whites and whisk the egg yolk with a herb essence* over the water bath until everything is stiff. Then slowly stir in the clarified butter (do not whisk anymore). Season with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Now the sauce is actually finished. But if you want a little more effect (and flavor!), you can pour the sauce into a cream siphon. By spraying it, the sauce is enriched with oxygen, which releases more aromas and thus not only provides pretty little peaks on the plate, but also actually a more intense taste experience.
Place the closed can of sardines in Beillevaire barrel butter and lemon (although the variety with pepper also fits very well!) briefly in warm water so that the butter contained in it melts slightly and the sardines come out of the can better. Then open the can and put the contents of the can in a pan. Heat briefly on medium heat with the lid closed. This way the sardine is heated as gently as possible and the skin remains intact.
Briefly sear the green asparagus in a pan with olive oil, salt and pepper.
Now just arrange everything nicely on a plate and by no means forget to pour the good sardine butter from the can over the asparagus and sardines!
Bon appétit!
*the preparation of the herb essence: boil 1 part water, 1 part white wine (ideally the wine you intend to drink), 1 part white vinegar, 10 peppercorns, 6 peeled and finely chopped shallots, 6 allspice berries, 1 clove and 1 bay leaf and reduce by two-thirds. For the last 5 minutes add finely chopped parsley, tarragon and chervil and then strain the essence through a sieve.
** let the tomatoes burst in a pan in the oven at over 200°C, take them out and sprinkle and drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, thyme, rosemary and some powdered sugar. Then cook in the oven at 180°C.
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Our wine recommendation: For asparagus we always classically recommend Vinho Verde. Our new discovery this year is the Vinho Verde Camaleaõ, a fresh but not floral creation by the young talented oenologist João Maria Cabral Almeida. Refreshing, mineral and light, with nice tension and low acidity, as well as notes of lime and white peach.
Vinho Verde Camaleaõ 2016: the bottle for €7.95 | The 6-bottle case for €44.00
A nice alternative is the Vinho Verde from Quinta do Ameal or also a rosé, e.g. the Rosé de Provence from Château Margillière. Or – to stay in Portugal – the Dão Rosé by Álvaro Castro!
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The Sardinen.Bar is located at Grunewaldstraße 79 in 10823 Berlin Schöneberg. There you can get besides sardines other fine delicacies from Maître Philippe & Filles:
