Asparagus Fricassee with smoked Hamburger Back and mashed potatoes

Shopping List for 4 adults

1 kg Hamburger back 1 bunch of white asparagus 250 g 1 bunch of green asparagus 250 g 500 g green peas in pods or 200 g fine peas on frost 1.5 liters of vegetable broth 1 bunch of dill 1 piece onion 1 clove of garlic Salt and White Pepper Sauce: 30 g of butter 30 g of wheat flour Boiling water from the meat Whipped cream/Cream 1 lemon, organic. dill Salt and White Pepper Mashed potatoes: 1000 g potatoes, peeled A little butter Whipped cream/Cream Salt and White Pepper Grated nutmeg Dill

I am an angler in Scandinavia Home Recipe No. 138 Asparagus Fricassee with smoked Hamburger Back and mashed potatoes

First some facts: I made the dish with half of the homemade Schwarz-Walter-Schinke in Recipe No. 136. But for others who cannot smoke at home, I have chosen the recipe with a good hamburger back. I "invented" the dish when it was time to eat the rest of the "Ham" - not because it had gone bad, but after half a year in Dry age bag, it had become rock hard and could (almost) not be cut with a knife. Therefore, the ham was also "cooked" - prepared in its own way. It was placed in cold water overnight in the refrigerator. The same water (1.5 l) the ham was "cooked" the next day, but in a special way. The water did not get above 85 °C, I had a thermometer in the water and by regulating my small hotplate I could maintain an - almost - constant temperature around 80 °C for 90 minutes. After this, the pot was taken off the heat and the ham was left in the hot water until it became cold. Save the cooking water, it will be used later for a vegetable broth. A purchased hamburger back is "cooked" in the same way for 60 minutes, but does not need to be in cold water overnight in the refrigerator. I put some peppercorns, juniper berries, some bay leaves, a small onion and a clove of garlic in the boiling water. See "Postscript" at the end. Procedure without liability: Start by preparing the potatoes for the mashed potatoes. Peel them and cut them into suitable pieces so that they will be easy to mash after they have been cooked. Remember no salt in the water when they are to be made into mashed potatoes. Peel the white asparagus and cut off the base approx. 3 cm up. Save peel and bottom. The green asparagus is cut just a little from the bottom. Save bottom. The peas are podded. Save the pods. Measure out the cooking water from the ham (hamburger back) - 1 liter - and add a vegetable stock as well as the peel, bottom and pods. If there are dill stalks, cook them as well. Let it simmer for 20 minutes. Then strain it all and discard the peel, bottom and pods. The white and green asparagus are cut into 3 cm pieces and now boiled for 5 minutes in vegetable broth, after which they are taken up and put aside, as they need to be in the sauce when it is ready. Put the butter in a sauce pan and, when it has finished bubbling, add the flour while stirring constantly for 3 to 4 minutes. Pour in the vegetable broth little by little and stir/beat well so that the sauce is uniform and without lumps of flour. Pour in some whipping cream/cream and stir. Add the asparagus and let the sauce simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Season with grated lemon peel, a little juice, salt and white pepper. Add the fresh peas and stir the pan. Garnish the sauce with picked dill. (If you can't get pod peas, add the frozen - but thawed peas together with the asparagus.) Boil the potatoes for 20 minutes and drain the water. Mash with a Potato masher with spring. Stir the mash with a little butter and whipping cream, season with salt, white pepper and grated nutmeg. Garnish with grated dill. Serving: Put the mashed potatoes in the center of a plate with a depression in the middle. Add the asparagus fricassee and place 4 slices of ham (Hamburgerback) around it. Garnish: Garnish with a little picked dill. (Save the stems for the vegetable stock) Drink: We chose a good red wine, because it goes well with asparagus and Hamburger back. But a cold Wheat beer could also go to the dish. Tip: By preparing a hamburger back as described above, you can be sure that it will not become dry. Only cook for 1 hour. Postscript: The attempt to make the rock-hard Schwarz-Walter-Schinke edible did not work. It was only roughly - with good will - edible. But the asparagus fricassee turned out fantastically well, so I can therefore recommend making it for: Chicken in asparagus with tartlets. Skip the mashed potatoes and cook a chicken, pick the meat from the bones and put it in the asparagus fricassee. Buy one or two packages Luxus Tarteletter and you have a real good dish.