ASPARAGUS À LA PROVENCE

This time we go to France and Provence which is famous for its culinary things like herb blend and the way of cooking food (à la Provence).To cook fresh white asparagus you must choose spring time when the harvest season is going on in Central Europe.
Ingredients for cooking the shoots:
400g fresh and peeled asparagus, salt , Provencale herb blend and enough water to cover well the shoots.
Cook the asparagus about 10 minutes in salted  water with  herbs. Lift the shoots on a clean paper and let them cool down.
Ingredients for making the sauce:
200g sliced bacon with smoke taste, 1decilitre cream, 1/2 dl Virgen Extra olive oil, 3tablespoonful wheat flour,
1/2 dl grated Emmental cheese, 1 tablespoonful grated Pecorino cheese, salt,white peppar and saffron.
Fry slightly the bacon in the olive oil and then lift up on a paper for drying . Make with flour a sauce in the same oil where the bacon was fried. Add cream ,grated cheeses and the spices and cook 5 minutes more till the sauce is homogenous. The most difficult phase comes now when you need to wrap 2  shoots together with tooth sticks and place them on a grill pan  and fry both sides brownish.
Serve the asparagus with the hot sauce as a starter.

  CHEF THOR