Passport to France at Central Market

Mais oui!!! Of course I have to write something about Central Market's Passport to France! J'adore la cuisine francaise!! So imagine my excitement when I stopped in to buy things for dinner and saw my Central Market all decked out like France! I nearly wept with joy. I wish I had bypassed the $500 waste of money I spent on the failure that was the Austin Food & Wine Fest and saved the cash to splurge on all things French for sale at CM for the next two weeks. I'm still boiling about the complete disappointment that was the Austin Food & Wine Fest. What an expensive, dusty, disorganized waste of time and money that was. But I digress...

Here are a few picture I snapped with my little old iphone

Beautiful little radishes and beans (the photo is a little fuzzy, I was shaking with excitement here).

A cute little marche setup with Le Creuset wares for sale

I picked up an Herbes de Provence pork tenderloin and roasted it in my rotisserie with a nice little pan sauce and rosemary roasted potatoes. It was fabulous. I didn't take pictures sadly.

I may be partial, but I still think Lay's taste better.

Aside from ravioli, crepes may be my second favorite food. It was a tradition that on snow days my mother would make me fresh crepes with Nutella and bananas. This nice man made me a crepe with cream cheese, figs and candied ginger. It was terrific.

I'm so lucky to live in a city that has such fantastic grocery stores and I'm even more excited because Whole Foods is opening less than a mile from my house, so I can ride my bike with my cute little basket to pick up my groceries from now on. Very French, non?

Creamy Asparagus Soup

Nothing sings of spring like fresh asparagus, spring onions and herbs. I spotted some gorgeous fresh asparagus at Whole Foods and decided to make a little soup as it was uncharacteristically cold and rainy this weekend. The recipe is simple and satisfying and so easy to make. 

INGREDIENTS

1 bunch of asparagus spears, tough stems removed, reserve a few for garnish.

2 spring onion bulbs, white part only
1 small shallot

2 chopped cloves of garlic

4 cups low sodium chicken broth or homemade broth (I like Whole Foods 360 or Central Market Organics in the carton).

1 tsp white pepper

1 tsp Better than Bullion chicken stock for seasoning

dash of white wine (optional)

1 tbs olive oil

3 sprigs fresh thyme

1  bay leaf

In a pot, add olive oil, shallots, onions and garlic and turn heat to medium low. Cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add a dash of white wine if you prefer to add some depth. Turn up the heat and add stock, bullion, thyme and bay leaf. Cook on med-high about 15 minutes. Add the asparagus and cook until they are softened, about 10 more minutes. Remove the thyme sprigs and bay leaf.

Then in small batches, puree the soup in a blender. I really like a silky soup, so I then strained it through a Chinois strainer into a clean pot. Add a touch of cream or a little more stock if you'd like and re-warm. Garnish with asparagus spears, creme fraiche, herbs such as thyme or tarragon, or croutons and a drizzle of olive oil. This goes great with slices of french bread, smeared with goat cheese and browned under the broiler for about 3 minutes. 

Soup lasts two days in the refrigerator. Happy Spring!!