Alita is back today as guest blogger, sharing two of her favorite spring recipes. One features asparagus, the other rhubarb.
If you are in the Bucyrus, Ohio, area, Bucyrus Lil' Farmers Market has had a vendor with rhubarb for the past two Saturdays. The market is located in front of Sears, near Walmart, and runs from 8:30 a.m. - noon.
Asparagus may be a bit harder to find, but today I did see that Fairview Orchards has a sign out advertising that they have asparagus available. They are located on the corner of Middletown and Fairview Rds, just north of Galion.
Thanks, Alita, for sharing these recipes. As soon as I hit the "publish" button I am heading out to our asparagus patch to see if I can wrangle up a mess to fix for dinner!
Marcheta *loving new menu ideas :)
A Few of My Favorite
Spring Things
by Alita Daiber Phillips
Spring is not complete for me until I’ve enjoyed a few of my
favorite asparagus and rhubarb recipes.
These are especially satisfying when made with rhubarb and asparagus
fresh from our little patches. Today’s
lunch featured one of these: Creamed
Eggs and Asparagus on Toasted English Muffins.
The recipe I used is a variation on the Country Asparagus
Pie recipe from one of my favorite vintage cookbooks: Farm Journal’s Meal and Menu Planner
Cookbook. I’ve been cooking from it
since the 1980’s. In those days, we did
eat differently than we do now. I enjoy tweaking
the old favorites to fit our new lifestyle -- smaller family; lighter diet.
Today, I prepared a smaller amount of the pie filling and
served it over toasted English muffin halves.
Here is the original recipe with my adjustments noted in italics:
Country Asparagus Pie
Baked 9” pie shell (I serve the creamed mixture over English
muffin halves or light bread slices, toasted)
4 c. asparagus cut in 1” pieces (about
2 #)
3 tbsp. butter or regular margarine (I use no-salt)
3 tbsp. flour (I use unbleached)
1 c. milk (I use no-fat)
1 chicken bouillon cube (I use 1 tsp. Wyler’s sodium-free instant bouillon)
1 tsp. instant minced onion
¾ tsp. salt (I omit)
1/8 tsp. pepper
4 hard-cooked eggs
1/3 c. grated Cheddar cheese (I sprinkle a little over each individual
serving.)
·
Cook asparagus in boiling salted water until
tender. (I do not use salt.) Drain
thoroughly in sieve.
·
Melt butter in 2-qt. saucepan; blend in flour. Add milk and cook, stirring constantly, until
mixture bubbles and is thickened. Add
bouillon, onion, salt and pepper. Stir
until bouillon is dissolved.
·
Remove from heat and add asparagus. Chop 3 eggs and add to creamed mixture.
·
Turn into baked pie shell. Sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake in 350o oven until cheese
melts, about 7 minutes. Remove from
oven. Cut remaining egg in 6 wedges;
arrange on center of pie with points of one end together, petal fashion. Serve at once. Makes 6 servings.
I hope we have enough rhubarb in our
patch to make Rosy Spring Salad and Rhubarb Surprise Pie, both from Farm
Journal’s Meal and Menu Planner Cookbook.
These use the “magic” of
gelatin.
Rosy Spring Salad
4 c. diced rhubarb
1 ½ c. water
½ c. sugar
2 (3-oz.) pkg. strawberry flavor
gelatin (I use sugar-free)
1 c. orange juice
1 tsp. grated orange rind
1 c. sliced fresh strawberries
·
Combine rhubarb, water and sugar in
saucepan. Cook until tender, for about 4
to 5 minutes. Pour over gelatin,
stirring until dissolved. Add orange
juice and rind. Cover and chill until
thick and syrupy.
·
Fold in strawberries. Pour into lightly oiled 6-c. mold; chill
until set. Makes 6 to 8 servings.
I plan to try the Rhubarb Surprise Pie
because it sounds like a good option for people who like strawberry rhubarb
pie, but must avoid eating strawberry seeds.
I found a recipe just like the one in my cookbook at this link: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/rhubarb-surprise-pie/.
Hopefully, the local farmer’s markets
will have plenty of asparagus and rhubarb for those like me who cannot get
enough of these delicious springtime favorites.
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