Fancy French Food…Oh Yes I Did

For some reason, I seem to keep seeing the same episode of  Secrets of a Restaurant Chef, where Anne is making a raw asparagus salad.  It’s nothing more than asparagus, red wine vinegar, percorino cheese, red onion, a splash of olive oil, and some salt.   The recipe reviews for it are favorable, and it was tucked into my mind as a “someday, maybe”.

This morning when I went to the store to get milk (because the kids drank 3/4 of a gallon yesterday while playing cards and there was none for cereal, which, obnoxiously, we are also out of), asparagus was on sale for $1.99/lb.  Obviously I am supposed to make asparagus salad today.  So, I picked out a pretty bundle of pencil thin stalks, grabbed a container of shredded parmesan/asiago/romano  (instead of  an expensive wedge of pecorino), and about $40 worth of other stuff.   I got home, and started to assemble the salad.   In the pantry, where I keep the vinegars, there was malt, sherry, cider, rice, balsamic, white…but no red.   A minor annoyance, and a major reinforcement that this  is why all of my recipes should go on a meal plan before I shop (well, that and the extra $40 I spent).  I used the balsamic as a substitute;  Anne would understand. 

Meanwhile…I’m making granola, working, doing housework, and thinking about the fact that my husband is coming home for lunch and there’s this asparagus salad that needs something to go with it.  And then I came across Orangette’s post for Bouchons au Thon.  It translates to Tuna Corks.  It cooks up to tuna quiches.   I know, my poor husband, right?  Especially when you consider that this recipe calls for gruyere, and creme fraiche, which I did not have, and, to really, would normally not have.  I did have about 4 oz of cream cheese (reduced fat) and some buttermilk (always have it for pancakes), and the rest of the cheese that I bought for the asparagus salad.  SO, long story even longer, more substitutes.  I mixed up all the ingredients, and thoughtfully did NOT take a picture of it for you (it’s not pretty).  But see that picture up there?  That’s what it turned into.  Very cute - what a relief!

My husband came home just as I was plating for the picture, and it’s lucky I got a few good shots before he claimed it as his own.  He will be sad when I go back to work and he goes back to pb&j.  Definitely a low calorie and low carb lunch, but if you’re watching sodium you might want to cut back on the cheese, or use a different kind.

You can make my version of Tuna Quiches and Raw Asparagus Salad because I added them to the recipe collection.  Subscribers will find the recipes together as a meal under lunches, but this would also make a nice light summer dinner.