Gnocchi with asparagus and onion weed, and a garden full of colours

The recipe is very quick, since I used bought gnocchi (to make your own click here). Pick some onion weeds, remove the bulbs, wash them and chop them finely. Keep some flowers aside for decoration (and to eat, make sure they don't have the seeds inside yet, these are quite hard!). Wash the asparagus, chop off the very ends and then cut the stalks into bite size pieces. Keep the spears (tips) asides. Gently fry the onion weed bulbs and asparagus stalks with a little olive oil, then add a little vegetable stock, just enough to cover them, and cook until the liquid has reduced to half. Add the asparagus tips and cook for 5 more minutes.  Cook the gnocchi, when they are ready lift them our with a slotted spoon and place in the pot with the asparagus. Add a knob of butter and stir well. Dish and sprinkle with onion weed flowers.

And now a few images from my garden, and a couple of flowers composition for my Pinterest Board!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

White asparagus carpaccio - carpaccio di asparagi bianchi

White asparagus are a real treat, and the most famous are from Bassano, in Veneto. I got a bunch for my birthday, the Bassano bunches are quite big so we made a few meals out of them: I tried the alla Bassanese and also al burro, but nothing beats a carpaccio, simply made with:

raw white asparagus, cleaned and thinly sliced

Rocket salad (rucola)

Shaved Parmigiano Reggiano

to dress: extra virgin olive oil, salt and (optional) balsamic vinegar.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Asparagus and onion weed soup

I have been cleaning the garden for planting and picked a few onion weeds with some nice juicy bulbs, plus some little potatoes and cavolo nero, so I put everything into a soup, with the addition of some asparagus, and vegetable stock. I blended everything (but left our a few whole steamed asparagus tips to add later) and used some onion weed and pansy flowers for decoration.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Florence fennel and asparagus with smoked scamorza

Great shopping yesterday at the Mercatino di Natale (Italian Christmas Market), and look at the beautiful vegetables from Aldo! I made pasta with eggplants last night, and I am planning a parmigiana for the rest (I have plenty and I love eggplants!)

Today I made asparagus (which I had already) and Florence fennels with smoked scamorza (from Il Casaro). To prepare the vegetables: I washed and quartered the fennel bulbs and passed them in butter, then I added a ladle of vegetable stock and cooked them slowly slowly, with the lid on, until soft. I used some of their juice to steam a bunch of asparagus, and then I cut the scamorza and put it on the hot pan for a couple of minutes, turning them after one minutes, just to soften and sizzle (but not melt). Serve with crusty bread!

And now for something completely different:

my soft cane orchids are in flowers! I had to share the photos :-). 

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Asparagus, spinach and onion weed soup

This soup is vegan and gluten free, and makes use of those onion weeds that grow everywhere in Auckland in spring. Forage the onion weeds from a safe and clean place and wash well. The bulbs are fat and delicious just like spring onions (plus they are free!) and you can also eat the stems, leaves and flowers. 

Chop the bulbs, stalks and leaves of a bunch of onion weed and one bunch of asparagus, sauté with a drop of olive oil until fragrant, then add 1 l of vegetable stock and one big potato, peeled and finely sliced. Simmer until the potato is mushy and then add one cup of baby spinach leaves. Blend with an immersion blender and bring back to the boil for one minute. Adjust with salt and pepper and serve, decorated with onion weed flowers.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Sautéed Asian eggplants and asparagus with Italian herbs (and baby potatoes)

One of my favourite kitchen smells is garlic and herbs sizzling in olive oil! Here I used fresh rosemary, sage and oregano, a couple of garlic cloves, and a few long Asian eggplants, cut into halves or quarters (depending on their size). When the eggplants were done I added the asparagus (which take less time) and sauté the lot for one more minute, then added more fresh herbs, a good pinch of salt, a heavy lid, and turned the heat off. If you leave the veggies like this for 5-10 minutes they will just 'finish' cooking in their own steam.

I had herbs leftover, so I half-boiled some new potatoes, peeled them (sorry Kiwis, but I love to peel my potatoes, unless they are organic) and placed them on a baking try lined with baking paper. I added rosemary and sage, salt and olive oil. I baked the lot and the kitchen smelled lovely.

 Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Asparagus with pistachio and Feta

Also tried with halloumi and with quinoa, very good combos! Just wash the asparagus and cut off the hardest bit at the end. Heat a couple of tbsp of olive oil in a pan, add a garlic clove, peeled and cut into two, and then the asparagus. Sizzle for a minute or two, stirring, then cover with a lid and turn the heat off. The asparagus will cook in their own steam. Uncover, add a tbsp of crushed pistachio nuts and cubed feta. If using halloumi, cube it first then sizzle with the garlic and olive oil, remove, add the asparagus and cook as before. Add the halloumi back at the end with the pistachio. Serve on a plate of quinoa.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Pasta with asparagus and cream sauce

More asparagus! For the pasta I used penne, and for the sauce:

1 onion
1 bunch asparagus
2 tbsp olive oil
1 glass white wine
salt to taste
200 ml cream
black pepper
chopped Italian parsley
Parmesan to serve (optional)

Finely chop the onion and the asparagus spares (keep the tips aside). Sauté the onion and asparagus spares with the olive oil, when they start to colour add the white wine, then cover and simmer, stirring from time to time and adding a little water when necessary. Simmer for at least 30 minutes, better if longer: the onion needs to be really soft. Add salt to taste. Add the cream and then the asparagus tips and simmer for a few minutes until the cream bubbles. Add freshly ground black pepper, chopped Italian parsley and the penne pasta, cooked al dente and drained (a little of water from the pasta is good too for a creamier sauce). Serve immediately, with parmesan cheese if you like.

And to finish today post: sweet smelling rambling roses from my garden.

Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Asparagus and Halloumi filo rolls

These are much better than asparagus rolls (although I confess that I don't like asparagus rolls, I only eat them if I have to, i.e. I go to a 'high tea' and the only vegetarian sandwich are... asparagus rolls! High teas are not very imaginative in this part of the world). So yes, I like to boast that these are 100 times better than asparagus rolls made with buttered white bread! 

I got the idea after doing this (another invention of mine :-)) and I though of adding a lightly steamed asparagus to each roll, and just a little Halloumi. For each roll you will need only one sheet of filo pastry, roll it up like a spring roll (closing the ends), brush with water (you can use melted butter or olive oil, but water is fine and no fat!) and bake until golden. Easy to make and I can assure you that these will go like hot cakes!

Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Asparagus and onion weed soup with flowers

This is so easy to make, but looks impressive and tastes delicious.

Ingredients

1 big agria potato

1 bunch asparagus

3-4 onion weeds with flowers

1 l vegetable stock

nasturtium flowers and baby leaves

sage flowers

violet flowers

Peel the potato and cube. Clean the asparagus, remove the woody stalk ends and cut into small pieces keeping the tips aside. Clean the onion weed, set the flowers aside and cut the stalks. Place potato, asparagus spares and onion weed stalks in a pot with the vegetable stock and simmer until all the veggies are soft. Add the asparagus tips and blanch. Remove the asparagus tips and blend the rest of the soup. Serve and top with the whole asparagus tips, decorate with nasturtium flowers and baby leaves, sage flowers, violet flowers and onion weed flowers. Eat everything!

Have a happy long weekend (if you are in NZ)!

Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Asparagus Sushi

I really really like the fried tofu parcels used to make oinari-san, I wouldn't know how to make them, a Japanese friend told me ages ago, but it seemed quite involved... maybe one day, but for the time being they can be bought in Japanese/Asian stores :-). This pack contained 16 tofu parcels. 

The parcels are usually filled with sushi rice, but they can also be uses as "containers" (see the image on the packet) and I really liked this brand: not a single parcel broke when I was opening it! I decided to used them with rice and asparagus. The asparagus were simply steamed, and then I cut them and placed then in a bowl with the liquid of the tofu parcels (they are sealed in an sweetish sauce which I thought was a waste to discard).

Wash the sushi rice (or Japanese rice) several times in cold water, until the water runs clear, and then cook it by absorption. The doses are about 1 and 3/4 (three quarters) cups of sushi rice for 2 cups of water, but that depends on the type of pot. You need a pot with a good lid, or you will loose too much steam. I kind of regulate myself by ear now, since I know my pots and pans. Bring the pot to boiling point, lower the heat and simmer until all the water has been absorbed. Once the rice is ready pour it into a bowl and stir it with a wooden spatula, cooling it with a fan if you can. I then add some ready made sushi vinegar, about 2 tablespoons, but this is my personal taste. If I don't have sushi vinegar I use 2 tbsp of rice vinegar, a little sugar and a little salt (to taste, and I don't like to use too much sugar or salt!).

I filled the parcel with rice and then I placed a couple of asparagus tips on each one, and a dollop of Japanese mayonnaise.  I had a lot of stalks left, so I placed one or two, plus some rice, inside some more tofu parcels, and wrapped them up with a chive. I think that these were the prettiest!

In the end I only had some rice and a few asparagus left, so I made a frittata with egg, soy sauce and the  leftover asparagus, and cut it into strips. 

I used the frittata strips to roll up some sushi with the asparagus frittata inside.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Gnocchi Sardi Pasta with Asparagus Ragù

I am away a lot these days, so I don't have many opportunities to blog, sorry. I will try to be more active next week, in any case, here is as recipe (super easy) I tried two weeks ago, and really liked it.

For pasta I used the gnocchi sardi from Grofalo, which I found to be particularly suited to this chunky sauce.

For the Asparagus Ragù I chopped the asparagus spears, put the tips aside and discarded only the very ends (the wooden parts). I chopped a small white onion and placed everything in a pan with olive oil.

I cooked them for a few minutes and then I added Italian tomato passata sauce (the Alce Nero brand tastes super, is organic, and the company's strength lies in cooperatives, not in slave labour of the tomato pickers). I cooked the sauce for a little more, until the onion and asparagus spears were soft, and then I added the asparagus tips. 5 more minutes in the pan (the tips don't need long), then a bit of black peppers, a drizzle of olive oil, and ready to serve!

Good with, or without, grated parmesan cheese. The best thing about the taste of this dish is that, to the palate, it seems more 'complicated' that it actually is! Very pleased with it, and its simplicity! :-)

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini©

Easy Asparagus Risotto

Spring = Asparagus

Photo by Alessandra Zecchini©

Here is an easy and classy risotto

Get a pot ready with 1.5 of vegetable stock (home made or organic)

Clean a bunch of asparagus and cut into 3-4 cm pieces (remove only the woodiest part, the rest of the spears are fine). Keep aside.

Finely chop a small onion (possibly white), put in a capable casserole or saucepan with 2 tbsp of olive oil and cook until the onion is translucent, but not brown yet.

Add the 500 g of arborio rice.

Stir, add one glass of white wine.

Stir, add one ladle of vegetable stock.

Stir, add the asparagus spear pieces, but not the tips!

Keep stirring and adding vegetable stock until the risotto is nearly cooked. It will take about 20 minutes. Add the asparagus tips only at the last 5 minutes of cooking.

If you are not a vegan you can add a piece of butter and/or some parmesan cheese at the end. Always stir well. This last step is called mantecare in Italian and it is an essential step in many risotti.