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Roasted Asparagus & Prosciutto with a Fried Egg & Hollandaise

Yesterday's lunch was simple and sublime - Roasted Asparagus and Prosciutto with a Fried Egg and Hollandaise. A treat by any standard. Roasted asparagus is one of our favorite vegetables of all time and roasting the prosciutto was a real surprise, a wonderful crisp and salty addition to the dish. The runny fried egg and lemony hollandaise just brought it all together. This couldn't be easier and takes, all-in, about 45 minutes to make. Thanks once again to Ina Garten for the inspiration and the recipe in her Barefoot Contessa Foolproof Cookbook.

Roasted Asparagus & Prosciutto with Fried Egg & Hollandaise
(Serves 3)

1 pound fresh asparagus (not too thin)
Olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 slices prosciutto
1½ teaspoons unsalted butter
3 extra-large eggs
Easy Hollandaise Sauce (recipe follows)
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Preheat oven to 400 ℉.

If the asparagus are thick, peel them halfway up the stalks. Cut off and discard the bottom third of the asparagus. Place the asparagus in a single layer on a sheet pan, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. Roast for 15-25 minutes, until stalks are tender to your taste. Meanwhile, place the prosciutto in a single layer on another sheet pan and roast in the same oven for 5 minutes.

Melt butter in a medium (10-inch) sauté pan over medium heat and wait until the bubbles almost subside. Crack the eggs into the skillet, keeping them separate, if possible. Sprinkle the eggs with salt and pepper and cook over medium heat until the whites are cooked but the yolks are runny. Don't turn them (although Peter and I did).

Arrange the asparagus on 3 plates. Place 2 pieces of prosciutto on top of each pile, drizzle with hollandaise, and place a fried egg on top of the prosciutto. Serve hot.

Easy Hollandaise Sauce
(Makes ½ cup)

2 extra-large egg yolks, at room temperature
1½ tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Pinch of cayenne pepper
6 tablespoons (¾ stick) unsalted butter
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Place the egg yolks, lemon juice, salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper in the jar of a blender and process on low for 15 seconds. Melt butter in a small saucepan until sizzling hot. Remove the small clear insert in the top of the blender. With the blender on low, SLOWLY add the hot butter to the egg and lemon mixture and blend for 30 seconds, until the sauce is very thick. Use immediately.

Note: You can make the hollandaise up to an hour in advance and leave it at room temperature. Before serving, add a tablespoon of very hot tap water and blend again.

Photo Exhibition at Ashawagh Hall

 

Peter Tooker & Claudia Ward Showing at Ashawagh Hall

Nearly everyone knows by now that there was a photo exhibition last evening, sponsored by Hampton Photo Arts (HPA) and curated by Laurie Barone-Schaefer, at Ashawagh Hall in East Hampton. It was a lot of fun and the turn out was fantastic - guess it helped that we had rain this year rather than snow like last year. Over 50 photographic artists were featured and hundreds of people milled throughout the hall admiring the art and enjoying the the food from the Nutritian Dragon. 

Peter and I each had two submissions that seemed to be very well received. Three of the images were frameless -  printed on metallic paper and mounted on acrylic board. This is a new service at HPA and they looked incredible. Many images sold last night including one of mine - The Narcissistic Serpent!

These are the images we featured at the show.

"Barbed Wire" ©2013 Claudia Danforth Ward

Sagg Main July 24, 2009 ©2009 Peter H. Tooker

Sagg Main July 2009 ©2009 Peter H. Tooker

If anyone is interested in buying one of these photos, feel free to leave a comment here and we'll work with HPA to get you the image you like.

Union Square Café Bar Nuts

In support of "our troops" - those setting up the Ashawagh Hall Photography Exhibition this weekend, I made a couple dozen Ginger Snaps and a large batch of these Bar Nuts. "These nuts won The New York Press award for 'best bar nuts in New York' ", according to The Union Square Café Cookbook, and I can see why. An assortment of nuts coated with a little brown sugar, a touch of cayenne and fresh chopped rosemary - how bad could they be? Answer ... not bad at all. In fact, I don't bet ... I know you can't eat just one. These will fly out of any nut bowl. Try them.

Union Square Cafe Bar Nuts
(Makes 5 cups)

¼ pound each peeled peanuts, cashews, walnuts, pecans, and whole unpeeled almonds or 1¼ pounds unsalted, assorted nuts
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh rosemary
½ teaspoon cayenne (or ¼ teaspoon chipotle chile powder)
2 teaspoons dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon butter, melted
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• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Toss the nuts in a large bowl to combine and spread them out on a cookie sheet. Toast in the oven until they become light golden brown, about 10 minutes.
• In the bowl, combine the rosemary, cayenne (chipotle powder), brown sugar, and salt. Break up and mix well with a fork. Add the butter, mix well.
• Thoroughly toss the warm toasted nuts with the spiced butter and serve warm, if possible. 

I posted this for you Ben, thanks for all your help and support with the show. If you want the cookie recipe click here. 

Mischievous Eyes

Cleaning out the basement recently unearthed some treasures we didn't even know we had - some vintage costume jewelry, lots of antique tools, and some old family photographs - from Peter's family and this little treasure was amongst the lot. I adore this picture of Peter and have it prominantly on display in the living room where I can see it all the time, right next to one of his parents that we found. I keep telling Peter that if I'd seen him when he was that age, I would have fallen in love with him and hoped he would wait! It's true! Who wouldn't fall in love with that face, that smile and those mischievous eyes. AND, they've only gotten better with time - full of love, full of fun, and still full of mischief.

This weekend marks the beginning of our 24th year together and trust me our smiles are full of love, fun, and .... mischief!

Showing Off at Ashawagh

Hamptons Photo Arts is once again sponsoring a photographic art exhibition at Ashawagh Hall in East Hampton this coming Saturday, February 23rd from 5:30 to 11:00 p.m. and Sunday February 24th from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m, curated by Laurie Barone-Schaefer. Over 50 local artists are being featured and music and refreshments will abound. Please come and join us if you are nearby for what is sure to be a fun event. Peter and I are both exhibiting and would love to see you there.

Happy Belated Valentine's Day

Sooooo busy. Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day with someone special.

 

Wave Photography

Wave Stampede ©2013 Claudia Danforth Ward

Photographing waves is intoxicating to me. I've lived my entire life near the seashore and I also happen to be an Aquarian, so there should be no surprise that I love water - especially tidal waters. Over the years, I have photographed beaches, shorelines, surf, sand, and waves - but waves at a distance. It wasn't until our recent trip to Puerto Rico that I got up close and personal with the waves rising and crashing on the shore. I spent hours in the water capturing waves in their creation and demise, and I now think this "is what I want to do when I grow up". This is my first time out - so to speak - so some of these are a little rough around the edges, but I wanted to share them and my excitement with you ASAP. I sincerely hope you find these images as mesmorizing as I did.

 

Photos and slide show © 2013 Claudia Danforth Ward
Music: A Nom de Plume by Alexandre Desplat; soundtrack of "Casanova"

Robins in Snow

Robin in a Snowy Holly Tree © 2013 Claudia Danforth Ward

Yesterday as we were truly beginning to appreciate the results of Blizzard Nemo, I was gazing out our bay window looking at a world that was mostly devoid of bright color, and then I saw them - robins. I first noticed their bright orange breasts and then I notice their motion. Robins were everywhere flying frenetically in, out and about our neighbor's 25-foot holly tree. What was the attraction? The bright red berries on the holly tree.

I always thought birds migrated south in the winter but apparently that's not always true. Robins in particular will stick around if there's food. As their usual food supply - earthworms and insects - is not available in cold weather, robins will eat fruit throughout the winter and this holly tree was laden yesterday with not only snow and ice but thousands of bright red berries - a feast for any robin or scores of them.

I was mesmorized by these creatures yesterday and couldn't stop watching them dart to and fro - thrilled with this cornucopia of food.

  

Photos and Slide Show ©2013 Claudia Danforth Ward
Music: Going Hunting by George Fenton - Soundtrack "Dangerous Liaisons" 

UPDATE: Within 24 hours of the end of Bizzard Nemo and my sighting of the robins next door, the holly tree has been picked clean of its bright red berries and the robins have moved on. Wow!

Holly Tree Sans Berries, Birds, and Snow

Mushroom Soup with Barley and Wild Rice

On a miserable rainy day, waiting for the temps to drop and the blizzard to begin, what could be better than a warm, satisfying bowl of soup. I found a new recipe, this one from The Union Square Cafe Cookbook and it's delicious. The carrots, leeks, parsnips and Madeira give the soup a sweet flavor and the mushrooms and wild rice provide a woodsy-kind of texture that I found very appealing. I'd never worked with parsnips before - shying away from them because of an assumption that they are like turnips which I know I don't care for - but I was missing out. Parsnips look like white carrots and are sweet - a great addition to soups apparently, and to that I can now agree. The only catchy thing about this recipe is that you must separate the solids and the broth if you want to store the soup over night in the refrigerator. If you don't, the grains will absorb all of the fluid. A small price to pay for such a delicious sweet soup.

Mushroom Soup with Barley and Wild Rice
(Serves 4 to 6) 

2 tablespoons butter
¾ cup finely diced onions
¾ cup sliced leeks, washed
¾ cup scrubbed and sliced carrots
¾ cup peeled and diced parsnips
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 pound cleaned and sliced mushrooms
1½ teaspoons kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh sage leaves
¼ cup dry Madeira
⅓ cup wild rice
¼ cup pearled barley
5 cups Vegetable Stock or water
1 scallion, thinly sliced
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• Melt the butter over medium heat in a 3-quart saucepan. 
• Sauté the onions, leeks, carrots, parsnips, and garlic until softened, about 5 minutes.
• Add the mushrooms, salt, pepper, and sage. Cook until the mushrooms have softened.
• Add the Madeira and reduce by half over high heat. 
• Stir in the rice, barley, and vegetable stock. 
• Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, covered, for 50 minutes or until the rice is tender. 
• Serve garnished with sliced raw scallions.

NOTE: To store the soup for serving the next day, strain the broth from the solids and refrigerate separately. Otherwise, all the liquid will be absorbed into the grains. When ready to serve, combine the broth and mushroom-grain base, heat, and serve. 

Characters in the Waves

I couldn't resist sharing one more set of the photos I took in which I saw characters in the waves.

Wave Riding Pixie and a Friendly Ghost

Lord Voldemort

A Cresting Clown

The Narcissistic Surfing Serpent

Anyone see something else?

Funny Waves

On our recent trip to northwest Puerto Rico, I spent a fun day photographing waves and finding humor and characters in many of them. The titles should give you a clue about what I saw, can you see them too?

Cinderella's Step-Mother

Laughing Jester

Grinning Porpoise

Surfing Cow

Do you see something more?