How many dishes you can make from Asparagus
A special cooking class with Thibaut Peyrouche the Chef at Table L'Horloge in St. Quentin-la-Poterie http://www.table-horloge.fr/
After years of eating a special dinner at Table L'Horloge I was ecstatic about being invited to attend a cooking class with Thibaut the chef knowing I would have a fantastic meal afterwards as well. The primary ingredient we were experimenting with was aspergue (asparagus) both green and white. The season for asapargus has come and it is for sale in every market. Our menu consisted of an asparagus type mouse garnished with 3 tips of the asparagus, rockette greens, special mushrooms, mini tomatoes, fresh parmesan cheese and a sprinkle of huile de hoisette (olive oile with nuts).It was mouth watering. This all came together after we were taught to peel the asparagus. Yes, peel. How many of you have ever peeled asparagus???The green tips of the aspargus were lightly blanched and were placed on top of the mouse and under the greens and cheese. The white asparagus was also peeled and the stalk was used for a sauce for the fish. The white tips were mixed with a tomato and onion sauce. This was all placed on top of a piece of fish that was pan fried on one side. Thibaut said that fish should only be cooked on one side on top of the stove with the skin side down.
The fish is placed on a plate on top of the onion, tomatoe and white asparagus tip mixture. The white asparagus sauce is then poured over the fish and dribbled with nuts. It was amazing to watch him and us in action!!For desert we (he really) made a fresh pastry cookie and topped it with strawberries mixed with tarragon. The strawberries were cooked and then strained so the juice was separated from the berry itself. The cookie was topped with the berry in the shape of a flower and then dabbed with homemade mascarpone cream (made from mascarpone, lait, sucre poudre, vanille bean soaked in run and the zest of the lemon) . This was phenomenal and out of this world. We then poured the strawberry sauce on top for the last touch. All this was donned with 3 different wines; a nice white from Vacqueryas, a sweet white wine and a wine from Valle du Paradis. This was all followed by cafe and great conversation.As an amateur cook who finally has some time to experiment it was fabulous. My first adventure was to cook asparagus by peeling them and cooking them with the tips out in order not to overcook them. Amazingly this worked and they were wonderful.What was also fascinating to watch was how nothing was leftover but every ingredient was used to our utter delight. 
aspargus souffle
Enjoying our endeavors