White and Green Asparagus Gratin

I love asparagus. Steamed. Sauteed with a little butter. Simmered in a cream sauce. However one makes it, I am not opposed to eating it. Just recently, I happened to find some white asparagus at my local market, and it was on sale for the same price as the green stuff! Needless to say, I couldn't pass it up... I had never worked with the stuff before, but I had seen it around (for, usually, a pretty penny) at the stores more than once or twice. Being that it was always more expensive than the green variety, as is the purple variety, I hadn't been able to justify splurging on something that I wasn't sure about. But, since I now found it for the same price, I couldn't very well walk on by!
White asparagus is actually the same species as green, but it's usually kept covered under soil or mulch so that it won't be exposed to the sun, thereby maintaining it's white color. Blah blah blah, chlorophyll borophyll... While doing my research, I did read that the white asparagus is supposed to be more woody than the green and so you are supposed to peel the very outside before preparing it. When I made this recipe, I used it peeled and unpeeled, just because I was curious if it really made a difference, and I didn't notice anything different in the texture. I think that if you let it sit around for a long period of time, then it would start to become woody and tough, much like the green stuff, but if you use it right away it's just fine.
When looking for recipes to use the white asparagus in, there didn't seem to be very many... Or, at least, not many that were truly unique. I've had gratins on the brain for a while now, though, since I insisted on having 6 new gratin dishes! (In my defense, they're not all the exact same! Two of them are black with white polka dots - LOVE!!, two of them are dark blue, and two of them are light blue! :-) You may remember the lighter blue ones from my post about the Chocolate Cherry Crisps...) I had originally considered using a recipe by one of my favorite fellow bloggers, Kevin from Closet Cooking, but decided, in the end, to go with a different one that I had found via the New York Times Diner's Journal blog, written by Elaine Louie. The version that she blogged about was much more grand than mine, but I really wanted to asparagus to be the one and only star of the dish. I used the recipe she posted as a guideline, and then just made it what I really wanted it to be. The sauce part was really what I was most interested in, and it was AMAZING!! I'm not sure if I didn't reduce it as much as I was supposed to, but the sauce wasn't very thick at all... That is really of little consequence, though, as we just dipped pieces of fresh, yummy bread into it to soak it all up. Who doesn't like that?!
I made two batches of this recipe, one the day before and one the day I made it, and they came out with equal results. So, if you're planning to make this for a holiday dinner, it's definitely easy to prepare ahead of time! I left mine sit out at room temperature so that it would have a similar cooking time as the ones I made the same day, but I mixed everything and arranged it in the gratin dishes ahead of time. You could also easily make this in a larger baking dish, making sure to check the asparagus for doneness and all of that, but it may take some extra time. But, I'm sure you could certainly find a way to justify buying a couple of gratin dishes of your very own, too... ;-)

Printable Recipe

1 c. heavy cream
2 shallots, minced
2 sprigs fresh thyme, bundled together
¼ c. dry white wine
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ bunch green asparagus; trimmed and cut diagonally into ½-inch slices
½ bunch white asparagus; trimmed, peeled, and cut diagonally into ½-inch slices
1⅛ c. grated Parmesan cheese
¼ c. panko bread crumbs
2 Tbsp. melted butter

Preheat the oven to 400°. In a medium saucepan, combine the cream, shallots, thyme, and wine; place over medium heat and simmer until reduced by half, 20 to 30 minutes. Discard the thyme bundle and season the cream mixture with salt and pepper.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the asparagus, reduced cream, and 1 cup of the Parmesan cheese; mix well and place in two individual (approximately 16 ounce) gratin dishes, or other equal-sized ovenproof baking dish. Sprinkle the remaining Parmesan over the tops of the asparagus. In a small mixing bowl, combine the panko bread crumbs and melted butter; sprinkle the bread crumbs on top of the dishes. Place the gratin dishes on a baking sheet, set in the oven, and bake until the asparagus are tender, the sauce is bubbling, and the bread crumbs are golden brown, 6 to 10 minutes. Serve hot.

Chicken and Asparagus Pasta Bake

This recipe came about because of another recipe I had concocted many years ago. I was at the grocery store last night and had decided to pick up the ingredients for that recipe when I got the idea to do something a little bit different, which I have since discovered is equally delicious. They're not exactly the same thing, but the ideas are exactly the same. One of the things that I've said over and over is that recipes are merely guidelines, nothing is written in stone, and you can make a dish into anything you want it to be! When I next make the recipe which was the base for this, I will post it and let you compare it. But, really, there is not much difference between what that is and what this is...
This idea came about because I was in the soup isle at the grocery store, and I happened to pass the cream of asparagus soup before I got to the one I had been initially looking for. Knowing that I had some fresh asparagus in the refrigerator at home, my mind immediately switched gears and came up with this variation. Since I also had chicken breasts in my freezer, that sounded like a great choice to go with the asparagus and pasta. So, throw a few things together, and... Voila!


Printable Recipe

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb. cavatappi pasta
1 - 2 bunches fresh asparagus asparagus
3 (10.75 oz.) cans Cream of Asparagus soup
2 c. chicken broth
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 c. freshly shredded Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Fill a large stockpot with water and bring it to a boil; add the pasta and cook for approximately 8 minutes. (If you decide to use a different pasta, simply cook it for one minute less than the instructions call for for al dente pasta.)
Place the chicken breasts in a medium sauce pot and cover with water. Bring them to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer, cooking the chicken until it's no longer pink on the inside. When the chicken is cooked through, remove it from the water and cut into cubes; place in a large mixing bowl.
Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small saucepan and then combine the olive oil into it; add the onion and sauté until transparent. During the last minute of cooking, add the garlic to the pan and sauté with the onion until the raw bite of the garlic has been cooked off. Add this mixture to the bowl with the chicken.
Clean and trim the asparagus, cutting it into 1-inch pieces. Add the asparagus pieces to the mixing bowl.
Empty the contents of the three cans of soup into a small mixing bowl and combine it with the chicken stock until the soup is thinned out and the mixture is fairly smooth. Add this to the bowl with the chicken, onion and garlic mixture, and asparagus. Stir the mixture to combine everything and salt and pepper to taste; fold in the cooked pasta. Pour the entire mixture into a greased 9x13-inch baking pan, cover with foil, and bake in a preheated oven for 30 - 35 minutes. Uncover the mixture, sprinkle with cheese, and bake for another 8 - 10 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

Asparagus and Bacon Quiche

If you've never had quiche, I strongly encourage you to try it. This is my go-to recipe for quiche that I came up with a couple years ago, and I actually make it fairly regularly. The great thing about quiche is that it really is SO versatile!! While I absolutely love asparagus and bacon, other people might prefer spinach and ham, and that is perfectly fine! Although, if you are going to use spinach, I would recommend preparing the spinach in advance as it has a high water content. In order to do this, simply trim the stems and steam the leaves of the spinach; once the spinach has wilted, remove it from the cooking vessel to a clean kitchen towel and squeeze the spinach in the towel to get most of the liquid out. If you don't do this, you'll end up with a very watery quiche, which is not conducive to yummy breakfast times...
Another great thing about quiche is that you can change it even more, making the crust out of different things and thereby making them healthier, if you so choose. Or, you can do away with a crust entirely, if you so choose. However, then this becomes a frittata instead of a quiche... If you are the kind of person who likes to make what is commonly referred to as an "egg bake", then you are essentially making a quiche or frittata, depending if you use hash browns as a crust or not. Quiche and frittata merely sound fancier! ;-)
The first thing you'll probably notice is that this quiche is much thicker than most, that it's more substantial. Well, that's because I happen to be under the impression that more filling is a good thing, especially if it tastes good. If this is all you're going to eat for breakfast, then I think it stands to reason that it should probably be as filling as possible. And like every other recipe, feel free to make this your own! Add a seasoning like basil and mix it with some fresh tomatoes, provolone cheese, and browned prosciutto for an Italian kind of dish. Make it healthier by substituting egg whites for half of the eggs. You are only limited by your own imagination and taste buds!



1 unbaked pie crust (9 in.)
8 large eggs
1 c. milk
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
1 lb. asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 (2.8 oz.) jar real bacon bits
1 c. grated cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 425°.
Roll out the pie crust on a floured surface. Fit into a 9-inch pie plate; poke a few holes with a fork at the bottom of the dough and flute pie crust as desired. Place another small pan inside to help set the sides while baking, or place a sheet of foil in the shell and fill with beans, rice or pie weights. Bake for 7 to 8 minutes, until the pie shell begins to feel firm.
Mix together eggs, milk, salt, and pepper in a medium size bowl. Cover the edges of pie crust with foil; pour ⅓ of the egg mixture into the partially baked quiche crust. Bake mixture until the filling begins to set; about 8 minutes. Place the asparagus and bacon on top of the partially cooked eggs already in the pie plate (or mix it into the remaining egg mixture). Pour the rest of the egg mixture over the asparagus; sprinkle with cheese. Bake, with foil still in place around pie crust edges, for about 30 minutes, until puffed and brown. Serve hot or at room temperature. Yield: 8 servings.