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french fridays with dorie: asparagus and bits of bacon
To me, asparagus means spring has arrived. Local asparagus where I live doesn’t arrive until late spring, early June, usually, but with Easter this weekend, asparagus is abundant at the store this week, and on sale.
The recipe for French Fridays with Dorie this week is Asparagus with Bits of Bacon. This was a relatively simple side dish. Boiled asparagus tossed in a light citrusy dressing and topped with bacon and onion. Whoa!
When I cook asparagus, it’s usually steamed in the microwave and served plain, so this was much fancier. This recipe said to boil the asparagus in salted water, so I followed suit. I have to admit that the asparagus spears stayed a nice bright green and looked prettier than when they’re microwaved, so I’ll have to remember that.
The bacon is fried until crisp, and then chopped into bits. Then, you warm chopped onion and the bacon bits in some of the bacon fat. You aren’t supposed to cook the onion, but I really didn’t like the flavor of raw onion, so I just let the onion bits soften completely. The only bacon I could find was maple-flavored. I was nervous the final dish would have an off flavor, but it wasn’t noticeable.
Of course, the dilemma for me is always was to serve with the side, especially on with so much personality. The asparagus, with all the bacon, could almost have been the main course, I wasn’t sure how to round out the plate. I ended up going with something more traditional, leaving the bacony veggie as a side. Nigella Lawson helped me out. I had a porky meal with her Mustardy Pork Chops as the entrée, and her Rapid Roastini (sautéed gnocchi) for the starch.
I liked the asparagus, but if I made it again, I’d use less bacon to lighten it up. Otherwise, it was a nice change from plain veg.
Check out the other Dorista’s asparagus experiences here. We don’t post the recipes, but you can find it in Dorie Greenspan’s book Around My French Table. It’s definitely worth adding to your library.
Next week’s French Friday recipe is a little controversial, Sardine Rillettes. I’ll admit up front that I’m looking forward to it, but tune in next week to see if it lives up to my anticipation.
french fridays with dorie: crab and grapefruit salad
I’m a Maryland girl. Though I don’t live there anymore, I grew up in Rockville, a D.C. suburb. Maryland is synonymous with crab, or at least it used to be, so I was happy to see this week’s choice for French Fridays with Dorie was a crab and grapefruit salad.
For this salad, lump crabmeat is gently tossed with a confetti of tiny chopped vegetables. I loved the colorful array of red pepper, cucumber, scallions, and jalapeño pepper. I went with the bonne idée and added some diced avocado too. And, of course, there was grapefruit, both segments of the fruit and grapefruit juice for the acid.
A handy-dandy grapefruit spoon, with its serrated edge, made quick work of cutting the grapefruit into segments. I’ll have to remember this inspired trick when I make winter fruit salad.
The avocado made me think of Mexican, so I added some chopped cilantro and garnished the salad with cilantro leaves instead of the suggested mint.
As I’ve mentioned before, my husband doesn’t like fruit mixed with a savory course, but he made a rare exception and agreed to try out the salad (he really likes crab). He thought it wasn’t bad, even if fruit was one of the ingredients.
Overall, I’d call this recipe a success, though I’m not really sure where it fits in the calendar for seasonal eating. With the crab, it’s more of a meal salad, but, in winter, when grapefruits are plentiful, a cold meal is not as enticing as in summer when citrus feels out of place.
In any case, the salad was a lovely light supper. I served it with a delicious new kind of lavash chips I found at Costco. It would make an even lovelier elegant lunch. The leftovers weren’t bad for a brown bag lunch at work either.
You can read about the other bloggers refreshing salads here. We don’t post the recipes, but I found it here (look at recipe 11 of 21). Or, you can always find it in Dorie Greenspan’s book Around My French Table.
By the way, I ordered a used copy of Baking with Julia. It’s on its way, so I’m hoping to join up with Tuesdays with Dorie, another social cooking adventure, starting in April, depending on when the book arrives.
A Plateful of Happiness 