Spring Leeks with a Fishy Twist

Even in deepest winter it is a pleasure to visit Provence's beautiful farmer's markets but now that nature empties its horn of plenty full of fresh spring produce on all those stalls I can hardly contain my excitement. Today's bounty was white asparagus, skinny sweet leeks, the first fat, juicy bulbs of pink garlic, some basil and a huge bunch flat leaf parsley.
So tonight's dinner will be the asparagus. Steamed and served with a little Sauce Hollandaise, new potatoes and a slice of cooked ham. This is the traditional way white asparagus is served in Germany where they know a thing or two about this noble vegetable what with all those acres and acres of asparagus fields that you find all over the country.
After peeling the asparagus (that is the downside if you eat the white instead of the green) I tackled the leeks - just topped and tailed them, washed them thoroughly (they love to hide lots of sand) and very gently poached them for about 5 minutes in some vegetable stock.
Now you have to dry them real well - paper towels are good for this. Then I just melted about 50 g butter and three anchovy fillets, finely chopped up a handful of basil and parsley leaves, added a few generous turns of the peppermill and the juice of half a lemon. Stir all ingredients together and pour over the still warm leeks. Eat toute de suite with a slice of baguette or, if left for later, warm up for about 15 seconds in the microwave or a few minutes in a hot oven. Très, très bon!

All the Veg you need

Once in a while I go through all those ripped out recipes I store in one of my kitchen drawers. Partly to declutter, partly to get new ideas on what to cook. This recipe - and for once I even know where I ripped it out of (the June 2011 issue of Delicious Magazine, one of my best loved cooking mags) ticked all the boxes of what I was looking for: fresh and crunchy vegetable, easy to prepare in advance and real pretty, too.

To serve this as a starter for six you need medium sized red peppers, halved and deseeded (one half pepper per person), one zucchini, sliced very finely, about ten cherry tomatoes cut into halves, a bunch of fresh green asparagus (just the tips, reserve the rest of the stems to make an asparagus soup),  4 to 6 finely sliced spring onios, 2 garlic cloves, also very finely sliced, olive oil and about 100 g fresh goat cheese.

Wash and halve the peppers, deseed and place in a lightly oiled baking dish. Finley slice the zucchini, garlic and spring onions, halve the cherry tomatoes and mix everything in a bowl. Season with pepper fresh from the mill, kosher salt (fleur de sel), drizzle with olive oil and distribute this mixture into the halved red (or yellow) peppers. Add the asparagus tips and crumble the goat cheese on top and bake for about 30 to 40 minutes at 180°C/350°F. To be served with a nice crunchy baguette or, as a more substantial main course on a bed of couscous.

I very stupidly forgot to take pictures after baking and when I remembered there was nothing left....

The Easter Bunny has arrived

HAPPY EASTER!

After very heavy rainfall during the last few days I just checked the garden this morning and although the sun is not yet out full force (but we are promised beautiful weather this Easter weekend) I found this little bunny happily hiding its Easter eggs in our garden. So now I am doing my part: coloring eggs for the traditional Easter breakfast and hunting down the freshest asparagus to be served steamed with sauce hollandaise, tiny potatoes and cured ham as a light and seasonal Easter dinner. And then next week it will be back to blogging more regularly -  there are recipes to be shared and Cuisine de Provence has been given another lovely blogger award that I will let you know about. Until then: Happy Easter everybody - enjoy your chocolate!