Spargel Palm Beach

from Spargel einfach Spitze

In the last century, there was a habit of naming recipes for places. Sometimes this was accurate—the foods came from, or at least were eaten there, while other names were used merely to suggest a feeling. There are plenty of ‘Amerikanisch’ or ‘Kalifornisch’ recipes that throw in some ground beef, an avocado or a can of corn and call it a day.

In this book, recipes include Andalusia (with sherry), California (with pineapple and walnuts), Spain (with pine nuts), and Hawaii (with bananas, oranges, and pineapple).

Spargel Palm Beach is similar and evokes a light beachy meal, with seafood and tangy citrus.

So far every recipe I have attempted from Spargel einfach Spitze has included asparagus and shrimp. This was based mostly on circumstance—I had a big bag of frozen shrimp and I was delighted to find a way to use it. But I want to emphasize that while shrimp is a nice addition to these recipes, the real star is the sauce.

Spargel einfach Spitze is a sauce bible. There are so many lovely sauces that work fantastically with asparagus, but also would work with meat, seafood or other vegetables.

Spargel Palm Beach

1.5 kg asparagus

2 mandarin oranges (canned or fresh)

1 orange

150 g shrimp

15 g butter

salt and pepper

Mousseline sauce

1 egg yolk

1 tbsp cold water

1 tbsp vinegar

100 g butter

1 tsp lemon juice

salt and pepper

50 ml heavy creamy, lightly whipped

Steam the asparagus until tender.

For the sauce:

In a tall, narrow measuring cup add the yolk, water, and vinegar.

Melt the butter.

Begin whizzing the yolk mixture with an immersion blender. Slowly pour the warm butter into the mixture in a steady stream. Keep blending and slowly adding the butter. Be sure not to add too much at one time or the mixture won’t emulsify. Eventually the mixture will thicken up (this takes a little while, just keep blending until all the butter is added).

Add the salt and lemon juice to taste. Fold in the lightly whipped cream.

Assembly:

In the meantime, peel the oranges, separate the slices and remove the skin (if desired) and seeds. Fry the shrimp in the butter and add the fruit. Season with salt and pepper.

Drain the asparagus and arrange on the desired dish. Top with the shrimp and fruit and drizzle the Mousseline sauce over everything.

• Add the butter to the egg very slowly. If you add it too fast, it won’t emulsify.

• The whipped cream makes this sauce Mousseline, leave it out and you have Hollandaise (but do make your own if you can).