Thursday, February 10, 2011

The first of the asparagus comes in from the garden

Asparagus is facinating!  It seems to spring up overnight; you can almost sit and watch it grow.  As early in the season as it is, we had enough asparagus up to cut and bring in.  We were watching Jamie at Home's episode on asparagus and Jerry, who normally is grossed out by Jamie's presentation, suggested we try Asparagus-Potato Tart
I followed the recipe for the most part, but we only had half as much asparagus as called for, which would be one of those bundles from the market, I think. I used the four cheese blend I always buy, rather than the two cheeses he suggests, and I used somewhat less, thinking a baggy full must be enough.  I also used a regular short crust pastry rather than going out for phyllo.  This tart is good!  We will do it again. 
Tips: put a sheet pan under the tart pan.  Butter dripped all over the oven; what a mess!  Next time I will try the phyllo crust and do it all the way it is written. More asparagus for sure!  I do think it would be fine to substitute milk or half and half for the cream, and that a little less cheese is fine.  However, I am debating with myself between using a stronger cheese, maybe the delicious Portuguese cheese I occasionally by at the farmer's market, or sticking with what I used this time.  The balance of flavor is delicate and I wouldn't want to overwhelm the potato and asparagus.  Not sure, but this was really good.  : )

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