Milo brought home asparagus today. It seems to be much earlier than usual…well Easter weekend seems right, but Easter is earlier this year. I think it is because of the mild winter.

 German’s love to eat white asparagus, and especially the really thick stalks. So considering we like the thinner (more tender and more delicious stalks – hello!) it conveniently works out to be cheaper for us =) At the market Milo got about 600 grams for the two of us for 3 bucks. White asparagus is the variety of choice around here, but it actually isn’t a different “variety” in the plant-family sense. As far as I understand (and observe in the fields) white asparagus is simply covered until it is picked, and therefore does not go through photo-synthesis and turn green. If you uncovered the same plants, they would turn into green asparagus. (I am not sure what this means for vitamin content, but I am skeptical that white veggies are as a good as green). But they tasted great, especially with some serrano and a poached egg.

Happy Spring!

So last year about this time, as I was pursuing my “try new things from the farmer’s market” goal, I bought a celery root. Unfortunately for the celery root, I bought a bunch of other veg on that day as well, so I stowed it away in a cool dark place with the potatoes, assuming it would last for a week or two. But then week three rolled around and it was a bit too far past it’s prime, so I sadly tossed in in the compost.

Now, I did taste celery root for the first time on New Year’s weekend. Eugen had made some mashed celery root (so delicious!) and then two weeks ago we had a celery root salad at the Auberge in Alsace. That was sort of like a French cole-slaw and also super yummy.

This past Monday we made our own mashed celery root to go with polpetta as an alternative to pasta. Cut off the rough outside and brown knobbies and chop. Boil and then mash up with a bit of milk, salt, and pepper. And don’t forget the secret ingredient.

Mugnut! or Megnut or Nutmeg…or whatever that is. Finely grate some in (I imagine a microplane would be perfect, but watch your fingers).

Celery root has a very mild “celery” flavor, and no annoying strings getting stuck in your teeth. A yummy veggie to try. Next time we might do a celery-potato mash to mix things up a bit.