Purchased this Tuesday at the farmer’s market in Orthez:  organic butter from the farm Leit de Brunas.  In Béarnais, the name means “milk from the Brunes”, which is fitting for this family-run farm located south of Pau that raises the Brunes des Alps breed of dairy cows.  In addition to butter, their tiny stand in the market hall sells fresh milk, cow’s milk cheeses (their 16 month cow’s milk tomme is excellent) and riz au lait, a traditional rice pudding. And the little molded butters are too adorable!

Green asparagus from Les Landes were in the market for the first time this spring, a true cause for celebration.  The area of Les Landes is just north of the Béarn, and is known for its sandy soil (and in 2022, for its terrible forest fires!) that is perfect for asparagus. Les Landes asparagus is considered to be the finest in France.

White asparagus arrived the week week before, but I have never really understood its appeal. Les flavorful, more fibrous and more expensive (?!), I generally leave it to those who love it – my apologies if that is you, please feel free to email me and tell me why I am wrong.

Anyway, very fresh asparagus is quick and easy to cook and is done in moments.  Wash the asparagus well, then snap off the tough bottom part of the stem. I dont think that there is any need to peel. I prefer the fat stems, and like them simply steamed with sea salt, pepper, a few tablespoons of water and a big knob of butter.  Bring to a boil, then lower the heat, cover and cook gently  until the stems are tender but not soft, about 4 minutes. Remove the spears to a warm serving plate, then reduce the cooking liquid until syrupy and spoon over the asparagus.  With a roasted farm chicken, Heaven!

Note, here I have added a bay leaf, as we just completed pruning the very busy bay laurel that grows in our yard, and have dried a bunch for future use.

This recipe came from my friend Richmond Tracy who was head baker at legendary Seattle Café Septième, now long departed.  The original location in Belltown was a tiny hole in the wall with three south-facing tables outside, where you could sit, back against the whitewashed wall, soaked in the morning sun and enjoy a big bowl of café crème with one of these biscuits hot out of the oven.

The trick to getting flaky biscuits is to use the best quality butter and make sure that it stays cold. Use butter straight out of the refrigerator and work quickly so that your hands don’t melt the butter.  In French, the act of rubbing together butter and flour is described by the verb sabler, from the word sable meaning sand.  When done right, your mix of butter and flour resembles sand.  You gotta love a language with SO many verbs to describe actions involved in cooking and eating.

Work is well underway in preparation forthe new Winter 2019 menu that starts at Cafe Presse on Thurday January 10th.  Here are a couple pictures of some of different steps that go into it.