Modified Pointes D'Asperges Au Beurre (with the whole stalks)

It's been a while since my last post, with the same old story on deadlines :). Well, it's something that I should be grateful for - meaning, our firm still has lots of projects in this pandemic era where many others suffer losses. Due to the time limitation, I've been cooking simple dishes only. Saute this and saute that or simple Indonesian food only (not worth of blogging tho). Eventually, just could not hold it anymore and I’m back to my heroes Julia and Simca LOL. For the sole purpose of eating (and liking) veggies, I must try various veggy dishes in various cooking method - and here it is:

In eating asparagus, I usually saute the asparagus just with butter, salt and pepper or make a soup. Sometimes, adding a pinch of minced garlic in the saute, just for variation. I've never "baked" an asparagus before, and according to this particular recipe we have to bake it in a fireproof baking dish or simply a casserole. So firstly, preheat the oven (165 degree C), and prepare the asparagus. Drop the diced/tips or in my case the whole stalks of peeled asparagus into the boiling salted water - boil for 5 minutes. Prepare a baking dish that has been smeared with softened butter, put the asparagus in the baking dish, season with salt and pepper then lay a waxed paper on top (I used a non-stick baking parchment). Cover the casserole/baking dish and bake for 15 minutes or until the asperges is hot through. In the recipe, prior to bake it in the oven, we have to cook the asparagus on top of the stove (that's why it requires a fireproof baking dish). However, I'd prefer a crunchier asparagus and just did not want to lose too many nourishments by having a longer time to cook - so I cut the "stove cooking" part and directly baked the asperges.

Prepared only for one person (indeed me! husband is out of town), it tasted different with the saute version I used to make. Of course, this version is way better - taste-wise, I even closed my eyes while eating (yummm). Looks like a lot of effort for just a simple dish but in fact it's not that complicated. Trust me, it's worth the effort - and I wouldn't make it in these deadlines period, if it's complicated.

OK, because Pointes D'Asperges Au Beurre is intended as a veggie garnish (although to me this is the highlight), I then cooked another super simple dish. I prepared this prior to going on a Mountain Bike ride with my friends (as a brunch), so I need something small (in portion) but have lots of energy - eggs i.e. L'Omelette Brouillée (scrambled omelette). Prepared this in accordance with what Julia and Simca instructed us to do LOL. Indeed we all know that in French cooking, all omelettes are cooked with a fork. I have tried this in years and resulted into scratches on many of my frying pan (both the non-stick and the stainless steel). Since I do not have a melamine fork and anything plastic is prohibited for cooking omelettes, I then used wooden chopstick - 3 chopsticks.

Beat the eggs and season it, then pour in the eggs on a butter-ready pan. Slide the pan and stir and scramble the eggs quickly with the fork (me with that ugly chopstick LOL), until it becomes a light broken custard. Lift the pan, tilt it at 45 degree and rapidly gather the eggs at the far lip of the pan with the fork/chopstick.

Egg is one of my mandatory food so I took it seriously. A good French omelette is smooth, gently swelling, golden oval that is tender and creamy inside. These description are required for my omelette hahaha. Ratatouille is also great with omelette.

Happy eating and cooking simple dishes! I will share other simple dishes that I have made during my deadlines period LOL but have not been posted.