Hubby has gone for a long business trip for 10 days, I am using this opportunity to eat as little meat and carb as possible.

Today is Mother’s Day, to be honest, Marc is not even two years old yet, I don’t have strong feelings that we need to do something special today. He has been really good that allowed me to lie in this morning and he was able to sleep next to me. After we had breakfast, I prepared carrot and leek soup, then we planted the baby sunflower plant together. We played football for a while in our garden, watched Formula 1 on TV and Bas stopped by briefly to give me a red rose for Mother’s Day. What a nice surprise!

Marc did not have afternoon nap today, glad he was able to hang out until after dinner and was able to turn in at 8:10pm! New record of an early night! That’s why I can take my laptop out and enjoy a glass of wine.

It’s white asparagus season right now. This season I have eaten more white asparagus than last year. Last Sunday we ate directly at the farm @Berriland Bottmingen, they have organized 3 days Spargelfest. After lunch, we bought some asparagus to take home. We asked for 500g and they gave us 1 kg. I used 500g to make cream of white asparagus soup and the remaining, I made a salad. In Basel, we have easy access to get white asparagus from the Alsace, France; Badischer, Germany, or from Greece and Spain. Alsace and Badischer are more local but my favorite is from Bottmingen which is just nearby, maybe because the production is limited and feels more special.

I love this salad with an Asian twist, another variation compared to the traditional way serving with Hollandaise sauce and ham.

White asparagus salad

Ingredients:

• 500g white asparagus, trimmed, peeled, cut into cubes, blanched for 5 mins
• 6 sticks surimi (imitated crabmeat), cut into cubes (optional)

Dressing:

• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tsp raspberry vinegar
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp Dijon Mustard
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Directions:

1. Blanch the white asparagus in a pan of boiling water, with a bit of lemon juice for 5-8 mins only, depending the thickness of the asparagus, so they are still crunchy. Drain and cool down with cold water so no further cooking.
2. Prepare the dressing by mixing all ingredients in a glass bowl.
3. Place the blanched white asparagus in one or individual smaller serving bowls as desired. Pour in the dressing and mix well.
4. Sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on top.
5. Chilled in fridge and serve.

Enjoy!

Here is one of my other dish I had this season, the crêpe farci with white asparagus, ham and hollandaise sauce, eaten in Alsace, found it very inspiring, it tasted better than I have expected.

Mother’s Day 2012: Baby Sunflower Plant from Marc, planting with him and Rose from Bas