Recipe 80: Asparagus Flan

The challenge: Time constraints, Tuesday night, and preparation.

I foolishly thought making this in the midst of making grits and smothered shrimp and andouille would be an easy process, or at least stream-lined. I do like a good challenge, and it had been a crazy day. The cooking soothed me, and many of these things needed to be made.

Preparation is a very good thing. It made the smothered shrimp easier to work with. However, I started with the asparagus flan, after the grits, because it had a 25 minute baking time, which would allow me to focus on the shrimp and grits. So, its really like I'm making two recipes, right? Not when you haven't chopped in advance.

I removed the tough ends from the asparagus, and blanched them in salted boiling water, and dropped them in ice water. James was kind enough to finish the chopping for me and the onion while I prepared the ramekins for the flan and prepped the dish.

Next, the onion, asparagus, and olive oil cook until the onion is translucent, about 6 minutes. It smells wonderful. Then the lemon zest gets added in, I did that myself and got James to chop the tarragon while I stirred the grits. Next, The asparagus-onion mix gets put in the food processor and ground until smooth. I did not notice any tough fibers, but I purchased pencil thin asparagus and must have had an excellent sous-chef;-).

Once the mixture is processed, and passed through a fine-mesh sieve if need be, transfer the asparagus mixture to a mixing bowl and whisk in the eggs, heavy cream, Parmigiano-Reggiano, salt and pepper. I then divided the mix evenly into six ramekins and wished I would have greased the seventh at that time.

I placed the ramekins in a water bath and baked for 25 minutes, in which I made the smothered shrimp to go over the grits I needed to stir again. Once they were finished, we let them rest for ten minutes or so while we tried the shrimp and grits(Yummy), then we tried the asparagus flan. James tried his first and doesn't care for asparagus or tarragon. He let me finish his. I like asparagus, and decided next time, I will either leave out the tarragon or replace it with fennel.

I will most likely make this dish again, just not in the midst of making two other recipes, unless everything is ready to go.