We had 2 beautiful weeks of spring / summer weather.
The ground dried out, the grass grew, the trees leafed out…. It was lovely.
But the forecast for the month that I look at had this weekend being cold, wet and miserable.
It was right.
Regarding long-term weather predictions, as in longer than 2 days…. I have noticed that if beautiful weather is forecast for, say, 2 weeks from today, the chances of the forecast changing is very high.
If horrible, nasty weather is forecast the chances of it being absolutely dead right is equally high.
We’ve had cold rain for 2 days with one more day predicted.
I comforted myself with this beautiful purple asparagus:
And a quiche.
This is the first year I have seen this deep purple asparagus and it has been the best asparagus we’ve ever had.
Other years we have had ‘violet’ asparagus, but that has been thin white asparagus with lavender tips…. Not nearly as good or as tender.
Like purple beans, this turns green when cooked, but a very dark green rather than the bright grass color of regular green asparagus.
There hasn’t been a lot of it but, luckily for me, most of the French think it’s weird and buy the white.
I am not going to correct their misconception.
Shrimp and Asparagus Quiche
Total time: 65 minutes
Ingredients:
- Crust:
- 2 medium potatoes, 12oz (360gr) total, shredded (not peeled)
- 1 egg
- 1/4 tsp celery salt
- 1 tsp olive oil
- Filling:
- 4 green garlic, sliced
- 7oz (200gr) asparagus, trimmed, cut into 2″ lengths
- 8oz (240gr) shrimp, cleaned
- 3oz (90gr) mozzarella, shredded
- 2oz (60gr) Parmesan, grated
- 1 tbs olive oil, plus a bit for the dish
- 3 eggs
- 1 tbs Dijon-style mustard
- 1/2 cup (4oz, 120ml) milk
- 1/2 cup (4oz, 120gr) crème fraîche
Instructions:
- Crust:
- Mix shredded potato, salt and egg.
- Pat into a lightly oiled quiche or 10″ (25cm) pie plate, working it up the sides a bit for the edges.
- Bake in 400F (200C) oven for 15 minutes.
- Filling:
- Heat oil in a skillet.
- Add asparagus, green garlic and sauté until tender, about 7 – 8 minutes
- Add shrimp if raw and cook until they curl and turn opaque, about 5 -7 minutes longer
- Whisk together 3 eggs, mustard, milk, and crème fraîche.
- To assemble:
- Spread mozzarella over the baked crust.
- Add the asparagus, green garlic and shrimp arranging it to lie flat.
- Sprinkle with Parmesan.
- Pour the egg mixture evenly over all.
- Bake for 30 – 35 minutes, until center has set.
- Remove and let rest 5 minutes. Slice and serve.
One of the side benefits of having quiche for dinner is it requires the oven…. which heats the kitchen.
The heating has been off for a few weeks and the wood burner cleaned and ready for summer.
Only one more day….
Interesting recipe–love the variety to a quiche! Do you squeeze the water from the grated potatoes before making the crust? Thanks for all your great recipes!
No, I just shred the potatoes, add the egg and salt and spread it in the quiche pan. It’s thin enough, and the oven hot enough, that it works.
And you are welcome…. Thanks for reading 😉
I don’t think I have ever seen asparagus quite that purple, certainly not in morocco or Australia, its quite amazing !!!
This is the first year I’ve seen that color. 10 years ago we didn’t even see green!
That asparagus looks almost like a fake art picture. I’ll have to see if I can find any here, but most likely not. I don’t ever even see the white near me let alone any other color. I’m a bit surprised. I thought you grew your own and this is yours! 🙂
It’s finally a beautiful week here. At least until Thursday when it’s going to storm all day. :/
We tried growing our own at our last house but the soil is clay and we would have to haul in lots of sand to make it work. Besides, it’s every where! (And I can’t grow everything! I say to the hubs every spring)