The asparagus season is in full swing now. Normally it is a big thing here in Germany. The restaurants would announce the start of the season on the blackboards and try to win the customers with new recipes or so loved asparagus with sauce hollandaise, which is a classic.

And a lot of small stands selling this vegetable would pop up on the street corners. This year, same as last year unfortunately, this big news went kind of unnoticed, thanks to Covid and the restrictions. Or maybe it’s just me who missed it? Most of the signs on the blackboards say in unison “currently closed” or “we will open soon!”.

With the numbers going down and the gastronomy slowly opening, at least outdoors, the mood slowly shifting to a more optimistic one. Not that I cannot enjoy the asparagus season at home. The last time we went food shopping and I saw asparagus on the shelf, a list of all possibilities of what to cook with them emerged in my head. I took two packs, just in case. The result of what I did with the asparagus you can see below.

Do you like asparagus or is this one of the veggies that rarely would end up on your plate?

Serves 2-4

Preparation time: ca 20 min

Baking time: 20 min

250g mixed minced meat

300g asparagus

1 puff pastry

1 onion

3 garlic cloves

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 egg

salt

arugula

5 tomatoes

half of a cucumber

FOR THE SAUCE

1 tsp crème fraiche

2 tsp mustard

1 tsp white vinegar

pinch of sugar

1. Peel the onion and garlic and chop into small cubes. In a pan heat up a little bit of oil and add the onion and garlic. Sear until golden brown. Add the meat and cook thoroughly. Once done, add the salt, cayenne pepper. Stir well and set aside.

2. Peel the asparagus and cut the hard edges. Wash and place in a large enough pot. Cover with water, bring to the boil, then cook for another 5 minutes. Rinse and set aside.

3. Preheat the oven to 180◦C (air circulation).

4. Prepare a baking sheet and roll out the puff pastry on it. Place the meat in the middle of the pastry. Remember to leave enough space on the sides so the edges will touch once rolled together. Place the asparagus on the meat, and gently roll the edges together. Once they connect, close the pastry on all sides. Move to an ovenproof dish, or place on the baking form. Whisk the egg in a glass and brush evenly over the pastry. Place the dish in the oven for 20 minutes.

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5. Prepare the salad: rinse the arugula and place on the plates. Wash the tomatoes and cucumber, quarter them and set on the plates.

6. To prepare the sauce, mix all the ingredients in a small bowl. The sauce is a little bit sour due to the vinegar, however it fits perfectly well with the salad and the asparagus. If you don’t like it sour however, simply omit the vinegar.

Once the pastry is done, remove from the oven. Cut in stripes and place on the salad. Pour the sauce over the vegetables and enjoy it.

Few remarks: I would recommend rolling out the puff pastry direct into an ovenproof dish or on the baking sheet on the baking tray or form. It is much easier, trust me. Once the meat is on it, and you are closing the edges it might be very hard to move to the dish.

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