Macaroni and Cheese with Asparagus and Prosciutto

This macaroni and cheese with asparagus an prosciutto is made in one pot and is ready in less than an hour. 

This macaroni and cheese is prepared on the stove top in a single pot. It turns out so creamy and flavorful even though you don't have to make a separate béchamel sauce. Everything comes together in the same 4-quart pan. 

Asparagus with Lemon, MInt, and Red Peppers

This asparagus with lemon, mint, and red peppers takes what might be considered a bland vegetable and amps it up into a spicy and flavorful side dish. 

This asparagus can be served hot or at room temperature and is a wonderful side dish to go with steaks, chops, and chicken. It has so much flavor. 

Shrimp and Asparagus Stir-Fry

This shrimp and asparagus stir-fry, with a pound of fresh asparagus and seasoned shrimp, is a tasty and quick way to get a nutritious dinner on the table. 

Roasted Asparagus with Bacon and Parmesan

Roasted Asparagus with Bacon. Roasted asparagus. Bacon. In the world of vegetables, this recipe is pretty spectacular.

Spring is the season for asparagus. While you can get asparagus year round, the best, and freshest asparagus from local sources comes in the spring.

Shaved Asparagus Pizza with Brie

Shaved asparagus pizza topped with Brie, garlic, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and nearly a pound of asparagus that you have thinly shredded with a vegetable peeler.

This pizza is topped with a lot of asparagus, to the point where you will question whether there is just too much. You'll discover that the shaved asparagus shrinks down and becomes sweet and crispy after roasting until it's "just right."

Asparagus and Goat Cheese Tart

This asparagus and goat cheese tart is the perfect lunch, or when cut into smaller pieces, a delicious party appetizer.

With a store bought puff pastry shell, this asparagus and goat cheese tart is easy to assemble and bake, yet it looks so elegant.

Chicken Orzo Soup with Spring Vegetables

This Chicken Orzo Soup with Spring Vegetables is hearty and filling, and the broth, made from a chopped up whole chicken, takes less than an hour. 

In fact, this Chicken Orzo Soup with Spring Vegetables tastes like it has been simmering for several hours.

Ham and Asparagus Quiche

This ham and asparagus quiche is perfect for brunch or lunch. It's also a very elegant way to have breakfast for dinner. It's both hearty and nutritious, and leftovers are wonderful reheated for breakfast. Serve it with a green salad, sliced fruit or a bowl of berries, and a glass of crisp sparkling wine, and you have a wonderful meal.

Savory Brioche Pockets | Tuesdays with Dorie

This week the Tuesdays with Dorie group is baking Savory Brioche Pockets from page 421 of Baking with Julia, a book edited by Dorie Greenspan, and based on the PBS series, Baking with Julia (Child).

These brioche bread pockets contain a mixture of mashed red potatoes, goat cheese, chives, caramelized onions, and asparagus tips... a pretty amazing combination of flavors. They are topped with an egg wash, poppy seeds, and a sage leaf. Just to make them pretty. They are supposed to have this little rim around the edge and look like little pies. but my brioche had such great oven spring and ended up looking like dinner rolls. The contributing editor, Nancy Silverton (one of my idols... seriously, read her prose about bread baking in her book.. you will be hooked), suggests that these could be served as appetizers, but I had just one for dinner and it was quite filling.

Making these is pretty involved. First, you have to make the brioche dough and then allow it to ferment over night in the refrigerator. Oh yeah, and there's 30 minutes (thirty minutes!) of high speed kneading in your stand mixer.

After you make and chill the dough, you steam and mash the potatoes, par-cook the asparagus, and caramelize the onions.  Thankfully, once you shape the rolls, you can freeze them and bake them when you need them.

Verdict?

This brioche is the best I have ever tasted/made. Wow. I had some trouble working with it, but it doesn't matter. The texture and taste were perfect. Not heavy, not greasy, but light and airy despite the high butter content. I never understood the appeal of brioche hamburger buns... now I get it. I can't wait to try the portion of the dough that is in the freezer to make them.

What did I do differently from the original recipe? Not much. I nuked the the red potatoes without peeling them ( I used minis) and mashed the skins into the mix of potatoes and goat cheese, and I used the entire trimmed asparagus spear (the recipe calls for just the tips).

To see the recipe, visit Loaves and Stitches.  To see how other Tuesdays with Dorie bloggers fared (and to see their creativity with the recipe) visit the Tuesdays with Dorie site.

Wok-Seared Vegetables | Wok Wednesdays

Asparagus, shallots. ginger, garlic, carrots, shiitake mushrooms, and grape tomatoes. All of these vegetables have different textures and density. The beauty of stir frying is the ability to add the vegetables at the right time to ensure that everything turns out perfectly... all within just a few minutes.

The asparagus is briefly blanched prior to beginning the stir fry. After blanching, I rinsed mine with cold water to stop the cooking process and set it aside while I worked on other dishes for our dinner.

These vegetables are so fresh and easy to prepare. The entire process takes about three minutes. Just stir fry the ginger and garlic, add the asparagus, carrots (I used this tool to shred the carrots, it's amazing), and mushrooms, and then add the tomatoes and seasonings and sauce. Bam. Done. Just have everything prepped in advance.

I was a little worried about adding tomatoes to my two month old wok. I have read that you shouldn't add acidic foods until after six months of using your wok. Fortunately, these tomatoes are added at the very end, and my newly seasoned wok survived. I think it also helped that I popped some popcorn and fried some orange chicken in my wok just prior to preparing this dish.

Another cool thing about this dish is that it does not require any exotic ingredients. It's super easy. We served it with rice and an Asian seasoned pork tenderloin. It was a big hit.

I am participating in Wok Wednesdays. We are stir frying our way through Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge: The Ultimate Guide to Mastery, with Authentic Recipes and Stories by Grace Young. Buy this book. It's not just a cookbook. It's filled with stories and history lessons.

If you'd like to participate in Wok Wednesdays, please visit the Wok Wednesday's page.

The recipe for this dish can also be found here.

Velvet Chicken with Asparagus | Wok Wednesdays

Who knew that "velvet" was a verb?

Well, it is! Do you get as annoyed as I do when you hear "boneless skinless chicken breast (BSCB)?" Once you "velvet" your chicken, you won't hate it anymore.

Velveting involves marinating meat, poultry, or fish in egg whites, cornstarch, rice wine, oil, and a bit of salt, and then simmering it in water and oil for a very short period of time prior to stir frying. The resulting BSCB is "melt in your mouth" amazing.

If someone told you dinner was boneless skinless chicken breasts and asparagus, would you be excited? Me neither. With this dish, you will be.

This recipe requires a little bit of pre-preparation, but the actual stir frying time is two to three minutes. Boom!

The ingredient list includes chicken, asparagus, garlic, ginger, an egg white, salt, chicken broth, salt, white pepper, rice wine, and cornstarch, plus oil for boiling and frying. That's it. All easily available.

The chicken is marinated in the egg white, rice wine, cornstarch, and salt, and then blanched. The asparagus is also blanched. Then all of the ingredients are stir fried. Fast.

Amazing Grace (Young). I cannot tell you how amazing this dish is. Seriously. Get yourself a wok. Buy the book. Give this dish a try. And join Wok Wednesdays. You will get support from Grace herself. She is amazing.

Check out this video of one our Wok Wednesdays members. He demonstrates how to cook this dish.

This recipe is from the award winning book Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge by Grace Young. We encourage you to support the publishing industry and buy the book.

You can also find the recipe here.

Asparagus, Pea, & Leek Stir-Fry

This asparagus, Pea, & Leek Stir Fry is fresh and crisp, and the recipe is wonderful to make during asparagus season. 

This asparagus, pea, and leek stir-fry has two kinds of peas... sugar snap peas and petite peas... and it's so green!!