Asparagus season has started! So the spring is truly here. it is some sort of obsession of mine to have asparagus in form or a nother as soon as local asparagus is in the shops. This spring has been really cold so season has been delayed at least by a week. This is how it looked last year in our market by vegetable sellers. This year I were able to only white asparagus. Oh well better than nothing. Green asparagus  which I got was German..

This is a nice recipe. I have done it several times. Beauty of it is that you can make big tart or as I did this time small individual tartelettes. They are great as appetizer or enjoy them with wine or maybe take them with you to pick nick.

Ingredients

500g Asparagus spears

1 x 375g Pack of ready-rolled puff pastry

4 Egg yolks

200g Crème fraiche

200g Freshly grated Parmesan (or any other hard cheese like cheddar)

2 tbsp Grainy mustard

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Beaten egg for brushing

couple of spring onions

Method:

1. Clean the asparagus and trim any white ends or peel with a vegetable peeler.
2. Half the spring onins and cut them same length as asparagus which you are using.
3. Remove the pastry from the fridge 10 minutes before use.
4. Preheat the oven to 220C
5. Unroll the pastry and place on a baking sheet.
6. Take a sharp knife and divede the dough in six individual tartlettes.With the point score a line round the pastry about 1cm inside the edge. Lightly prick inside the rectangle with a fork and brush the edges with a little beaten egg. I had enough dough to make small edges for each tartelette.
7. Mix together the crème fraiche,100g of the parmesan, egg yolks, chives, horseradish and  season and spread over dough
8. Lay the asparagus and spring onion in a neat line, all the tips facing the same way inside the border of the pastry.
9. Sprinkle parmesan over the tartelette.
10. Place in the oven for 35/40 minutes until golden brown and cooked (turn the oven down to 190c if the pastry is beginning to catch).
11. Serve with a fresh tomato and watercress salad.