Asparagus en Croute

Someone gave me a new, first edition printing of the Silver Palate Cookbook just after it was first published in 1982. It was a highly stylized cookbook, very different from the run-of-the-mill cookbooks of the day. Using hand drawn illustrations and two-color printing, informational sections in the margins would offer quotations by famous people about food or provide further information on a particular food product, such as capers, or lamb chops or black walnuts. It also offered whole meal menus combining various recipes from the book. Many of the recipes were so unique, you almost needed that as a guide.

Written by two New Yorkers following the successful genesis of their food shop of the same name on the Upper West side of Manhattan, the 1982 cookbook was something of a next step for those that hadn't mastered the art of French cooking from Julia Child. Full of discoveries that seem mundane by today's standards, but very avant garde for its time, the Silver Palate Cookbook taught us about exotic condiments like balsamic vinegar and rough grain mustard, and upscale recipes like wild mushroom soup and a new thing called "pesto."

Personally, I found the Silver Palate Cookbook to be somewhat impractical as a source for basic kitchen information, and heavily skewed toward vegetables, desserts and hors d'oeuvres, none of which occupied a great deal of my culinary interest at the time. The book also seemed to have lists of ingredients that were just not readily available back then. It wasn't like I could go to my neighborhood grocer and get pine nuts or Gruyère cheese, or even fresh herbs, whenever I needed them. New York City notwithstanding, the rest of the world hadn't caught up with grocery stores well stocked with things like arugula, currants and softshell crabs. I did try a fruit-stuffed loin of pork from the cookbook once. But even then, I had a difficult time finding dried apricots and Madeira wine, and it wasn't a recipe I cared to try a second time. I will say, however, that the one time I needed a recipe for Ratatouille, I came right to this cookbook, recalling that it had a whole section specifically on eggplant, just as it does for mushrooms, potatoes, artichokes, tomatoes and carrots.

All that said, there are two recipes from this cookbook that I did adopt into my repertoire, and today make with some degree of regularity. One, a creamy tarragon dressing, will be reserved for a later posting. The other, asparagus en croute, is a deceptively simple hors d'oeuvre that always, always gets rave reviews whenever I serve it, and is a perfect cocktail party finger food: self contained, dripless and easy to eat.

As I rekindle interest in this 1982 publication, I realize a couple of things. First, food distribution in 2009 is vastly different than in 1982, and suddenly, this cookbook doesn't seem quite so out of step with the times. Secondly, I realize that I have a hardback first edition of an out of print cookbook that surely adds a bit of depth to my growing culinary book collection.

Ingredients
12 slices white sandwich bread
1/2 lb Jarlsberg or other Swiss-type cheese
1/2 cup Dijon Mustard
12 asparagus spears
4 tbsp butter

The Recipes
First, prepare the asparagus:
Buy asparagus that is about the thickness of two pencils. Hold the spear by each end and bend gently in half; it will snap approximately where tenderness begins. Toss the woody part away. Bring a skillet with about an inch of salted water to the boil and carefully place the asparagus spears into the boiling water for 2 minutes. Remove the spears to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process and set the bright green color. Drain, pat each spear dry with a paper towel and set aside.

Next, prepare the bread:
Remove the crusts from each slice of bread with a sharp knife as you go along. Using a rolling pin, flatten out the slice of bread as thin as possible. Place the bread square under a sheet of wax paper with a damp paper towel on top, and keep covered until the next step. Repeat for the remaining eleven slices of bread.

Now, assemble and finish the dish:
Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. Slice the cheese into fingers roughly the same length as the asparagus spears. Melt the butter in the microwave.

Take out one slice of bread and spread it evenly with the Dijon mustard. Then, place the asparagus spear and the cheese finger next to one another, and roll both up into the bread slice. Place seam side down on a buttered baking sheet.

Brush liberally with more melted butter. Bake in the upper third of a 450 degree oven for 10 minutes until brown and bubbling. Allow to cool a couple of minutes before serving.

For an added bit of zest and fun, use two or three different kinds of flavored mustards, such as maple-bourbon Dijon, or honey mustard. Use a different mustard on each slice of bread, and your guests will be continually delighted with a different taste sensation with each hors d'oeuvre.