Germany's most favourite spring food: asparagus

In light of recent events I will delay my stories about the place where the wild things are and will turn to some more urgent food matters.

Germany’s favourite spring food is white asparagus. There is no region where they don’t have a special asparagus which is so much better than all the one from all the other areas in Germany. Even I, who am not very fond of white asparagus, have to prepare some dishes now and then; this year I made everything thinkable: from asparagus with pancakes and sauce hollandaise over asparagus lasagna and asparagus pesto to asparagus salad.  But these two recipes were my favourites from this season. The first one is a recipe from Pflanzenlust Blog. It is actually a very simple recipe, but with an astonishing twist. The asparagus is seasoned with salt and then tightly wrapped in baking paper with some butter/margarine and lemon slices. After 15-20 min in the oven it is ready and believe me, quite explosive to your taste buds. The sauce is made from a large cooked floury potato mixed with half oat milk and vegetable broth and fresh herbs (I used wild garlic). I served it with potatoes and a vegan 'schnitzel' for P and C.

 

The second one is an old friend, a recipe I posted some time ago on my blog. This time I used linguine, added some semi-dried tomatoes and used lemon instead of lime.

But back to the recent event. On June, 24th there is Midsummer's eve or Johanni (St. John's eve) and with it ends the asparagus season. 

Which isn't that bad at all. We had plenty of time to eat white and green asparagus and now new delights are ready to be transformed into delicious meals. Since it is a very old holiday which, being a festival of the sun (summer solstice), goes back beyond the Iron Age and consists of feasting (there is an abundance of food right now and in Sweden herring is also important with the fishing season in the Baltic Sea from March to April therefore even by putting it in brine it has to go now), drinking (the wine and beer cellars had to be cleared for the next harvest) and being merry (the month of March was thought to be especially favourable for giving birth). The Christian church tried to take away all these heathen happiness and made Midsummer the day for the celebration of the birth of St. John the baptist. Often the church forbade poles, bonfires, dancing, and drinking at this time of the year. However, as you can see from this IKEA video their efforts were in vain:

 

So if you are preparing a special dish for Midsummer's eve, please let me know and I will tell you

mine :)