monday night dinner

asparagus soup & a radish salad.

i do not cook or pretend to know how to cook. since we met nick has been making me breakfast, elevenses, smoko, tea, snacks, you name it. i've done the dishes and made several hundred batches of my infamous chocolate chip cookies to keep from appearing totally useless but it wasn't until this winter that i was assigned a night of my own to make dindin; mondays. nick was probably at the end of his rope with making me every flipping meal. but if he was, he didn't make a show of it. he just slowly, and without my knowledge or consent, taught me how to cook.

i'm not doing particularly well. BUT i am getting rather into my gardening and i am completely head over heels for growing something from a seed and then eating it a month or two or three later. so the gardening begets the cooking. and here we are.

a reader recently requested that i share some in season recipes here on my blog. nothing would make me happier. though, i warn you, they are either simple in their execution, or i made them up and might only be tasty according to my mouth. disclosures aside, i think it vital to cook with veggies grown in and around where you live. right now, in our gardens, we are harvesting asparagus, onions, and radishes...along with some others that i'll go into next week.

last night i made us cream of asparagus soup grace a la trusty ol' joy of cooking. you can recreate it as follows:

makes: about 8 cups
total cooking/prep time: 40 minutes

melt in a soup pot over med heat 4 T butter
add & cook, stirring, until tender but not browned  1 c. coarsley chopped onions
stir in
1 1/2 lbs asparagus, trimmed & coarsley chopped
cover & cook 5 min, stirring occasionally, stir in
1/4 c all purpose flour
turn heat to high and slowly stir in and bring to a boil
4 c of water (joy of cooking actually calls for broth but i didn't have any and it still was quite tasty)
reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, until asparagus is very tender, about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. use a food processer, or blender to blend soup until smooth. return soup to pot and stir in
1/2 c. heavy cream
a pinch of salt, of pepper, and of nutmeg ( if wanted ) 
serve with grated gruyere or parmasean cheese

the radish salad

makes: about 2 servings
total prep time: 5 minutes

10 small radishes thinly sliced
2  radish greens thinly sliced  (the best part about radishes is the whole plant is edible and tasty)
1 small young red onion thinly sliced
sprinkle fresh goat cheese to taste over the radishes, greens, and onion
drizzle a very light amount of honey over the whole thing, et voila.

the honey, radishes,  asparagus and onions all came from our farm. the cream, butter, and cheese came from two local dairies. the salt & pepper came from the yuppy grocery store.