food and cooking blog

When I was in Louisville Kentucky a couple of weeks ago I tried the famous Hot Brown sandwich at the Brown Hotel. It's a rich combination of dreamy Mornay sauce, hearty turkey, a couple of tomato wedges and crisp bacon on top. Broiling the sandwich makes the tomatoes and sauce even tastier. But it's a monster! I really don't know how anyone can finish it. If you go to Louisville, by all means do try it. If you don't have an enormous appetite, you can order a smaller portion of the Hot Brown. It's not on the menu but it is available upon request.

All over Kentucky you will find different versions of the Hot Brown. Some have ham instead of turkey or a combination of both, or seafood and no turkey or ham. When I got home I decided I would try my hand at making a slightly lighter version of this delectable sandwich. But I figured why not try it with asparagus? After all, asparagus and cheese sauce is already pretty tasty. While I love Mornay sauce, I rarely have heavy cream on hand so I made a simpler cheese sauce. I kept the bacon because I think the salty, smoky flavor and crunch really are important in this mostly soft fork-and-knife style sandwich. I also like the juicy tomatoes so I kept them in the mix.

The Hot Brown was created as a late night snack for dancing, partying Louisvillians who craved something other than a midnight breakfast. But actually I think it makes a great breakfast or lunch. I know my other half would it eat it for breakfast if I put a fried egg on it! Then again, he would eat just about anything with a fried egg on it. A sandwich smothered in cheese sauce is a yummy thing indeed and I think there are probably endless variations...

Asparagus Hot BrownServes 4

Ingredients

3 Tablespoons butter
3 Tablespoons flour
2 cups whole milk
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
Salt to taste

4 thick slices white bread, such as Pullman or Texas toast, crusts trimmed, bread lightly toasted

1 lb. asparagus, trimmed and steamed
4 teaspoons grated Parmesan
1 -2 ripe tomatoes, cored and cut into 8 wedges

8 slices bacon, cooked

1/4 cup parsley, chopped

Instructions

For the sauce:
Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour and cook, whisking constantly, until pale golden, about 3 minutes. Remove pan from heat and quickly whisk in milk and cheese. Return pan to heat. Cook sauce, whisking constantly, until smooth and creamy, 1–2 minutes. Remove pan from heat and season sauce with salt to taste.

Preheat broiler. Trim the asparagus spears in half, so they are no more than 4 inches long and cut the toast into triangles. Put 2 pieces of toast in each dish, and cover with 1/4 of the asparagus and spoon 1/2 cup of sauce over it. Sprinkle a teaspoon of cheese over each portion. Garnish each dish with two tomato wedges, tucked next to the sandwich. Broil sandwiches until sauce is browned, about 1-2 minutes. Put 2 pieces bacon on each sandwich and sprinkle with parsley before serving.

Enjoy!

This past Saturday at the Ferry Plaza farmer's market I found lots of harbingers of Spring, all green--asparagus, green garlic, artichokes and even obscure ones like wild radish rapini. I bought a bit of each. The rapini I will blanch then probably toss with dressing or pasta and the artichokes I will surely roast. But I picked up the asparagus and the green garlic without any specific plans.

Green garlic is milder than regular garlic and tastes and looks a bit like large bulbous scallions. There are lots of recipes that use green garlic as an accent in soup, sauces, risotto and pizza. You can chop and saute them the same way you would any other green onion. Because green garlic is in season at the same time as asparagus it is often paired with it and frankly every asparagus and green garlic recipe sounds great to me. Both are springy and green but one more earthy and grassy, the other sweet and oniony.

A typical way to use green garlic is to make a pesto. You can cook it and then puree it or puree it raw. But if you use it raw, it will have a bite! I made a raw pesto and then coated the asparagus with it and then dipped it into panko and roasted it until the panko was golden brown, the asparagus cooked through and the green garlic mellowed and sweet. I was inspired by a number of other recipes to create this one and I'm pleased with the way it turned out. It's good as a side dish with something simple like roast chicken and rice.

The recipe makes way more pesto than you need for a big bunch of asparagus, but use the rest with hot pasta or use it to coat fish or seafood and then top with crumbs or panko. You could also use on toast or dab it on goat cheese. A bit of the pesto would be good swirled in soup as well, especially asparagus soup!

Roasted Asparagus with Green Garlic & Panko
Serves about 4

Ingredients

1/2 cup olive oil
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup stalks and bulbs green garlic, trimmed and chopped (about 3) remove dark green bits
1 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
1 bunch medium asparagus spears (about 16 stalks), trimmed, the bottom 1/3 peeled with a vegetable peeler

Instructions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Oil a large foil-lined rimmed baking sheet. In a blender or food processor, puree green garlic with olive oil, lemon juice and salt until smooth. Place 1/2 cup panko in a 9x13 baking pan. Place the asparagus on a cutting board or clean surface and rub with about 1/4 cup pesto or enough to coat. Place the asparagus in the baking dish and cover with the remaining panko. Carefully transfer asparagus to prepared baking sheet in a single layer. Roast until browned, about 15 minutes. Serve right away.

Enjoy!