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You are here: Home / Travel / France / Asparagus a la Flamande and a stroll through Rue Grenelle market in Paris

Asparagus a la Flamande and a stroll through Rue Grenelle market in Paris

by Jeanne Horak on June 13, 2012 16 Comments in France, Gluten-free, Markets, Photography, Vegetable side dishes, Vegetarian

 

When I was about six years old, my late half-sister Lucille moved to France. After completing her language studies in South Africa, she went to do an Honours course in Aix-en-Provence, fell in love, got married and never moved back to South Africa.  At the time, South Africans did not really do that sort of thing (this was the 70s and way before the concept of the gap year had been invented!), and so it seemed incredibly exotic to have a close relative living in a foreign country.  Thanks to Lucille, I was the only girl in my class who could count to ten in French, and I could sing happy birthday in English, Afrikaans AND French. I thought I was terribly clever 😉

In the early 1980s, we took a family trip to France, partly so that me father could attend a conference and partly to visit Lucille near Bordeaux.  I remember arriving at her apartment one morning and being parked there with the menfolk while Lucille and my mom went shopping to buy ingredients for lunch.  I later remember my mom telling my dad with eye-rolling bewilderment about the shopping trip to the local market. “It took forever! First we had to go to the fish man; then the cheese man; then the potato man; then the butter man.  And at each stall we had to stop and enquire about his health, his wife’s health and their dog’s/cow’s/goat’s health.  And then we had to choose each individual item – each potato, each peach. It was ridiculous!  So impractical!  I could never live in France!”  My ever-practical mother had always been a great believer in convenience and viewed shopping for food as a necessary evil.  To her, the supermarket, offering the possibility of a one-stop shop and as little time-consuming social interaction as possible, represented progress and modernity.  And because I was only about 12 years old, I took my mother’s words as gospel and filed the whole market experience under “Weirdness, general (French)”.

It’s funny what a difference a few decades make.  Now that I, like Lucille, am living in Europe, I find myself thinkng back often to that family anecdote.  What seemed so outlandish and foreign to my mother now seems totally natural to me – show me a market and I will sprint towards it, eager to talk to the producers and stallholders, and to choose each individual tomato for my salad. I shop at supermarkets, but only because we have no real neighbourhood market where I live – and because there are only 24 hours in every day! But as soon as I have a little more time – like when I am on holiday – I head for the market.  Last week as many of you know, we were travelling through France, first to the wonderful Vaucluse region in Provence and then back to England via stops in Dijon and Paris.  We had nothing planned for our final morning in Paris, so I asked my friend Val who lives there to recommend a market.  Asking a Parisian for their favourite market is like asking a Londoner about his favourite pub – everybody has a different one.  And the one that Val recommended was the Rue Grenelle Sunday market.

 

ParisGrenelleOpening

 

ParisGrenelleRoses1

 

GrenelleMarketShoppers

GrenellePeonies

 

GrenelleMarketRotisserie

 

GrenelleMarketRadishes

GrenelleMarketTomatoes

 

GrenelleMarketGarlic

GrenelleMarketStall

Situated under the railway lines, a long, straight avenue of stalls stretches as far as the eye can see between the La Motte-Picquet – Grenelle and Dupleix Metro stops (15th arrondissement).  This is no tourist market either, but is bustling with locals in search of provisions for their Sunday lunch. Although there are a few of the obligatory cheap sunglass/sandal/clothes stalls, the focus here is definitely on the food:  glistening fresh fish stalls sit side by side with huge hunks of Charolais beef; the egg man sits a few metres down from the honey man; chickens in various stages of being roasted sizzle quietly as their rotisseries turn; wines from Bourgogne are sold beside bottles of pastel coloured jus de pommes and jus de poires; vast oceans of roses and peonies perfume the air; and everywhere there is such a cornucopia of beautiful fruit and vegetables as to make choice near-impossible. Giant heirloom tomatoes rub shoulders with fuzzy red peaches; vivid orange apricots blush scarlet and the sight of the huge, crispy concombres; courgettes rondes  jostle for space alongside exuberantly purple-striped garlic; artichokes as big as my head loom over delicate petit pois peas; and everywhere the seasonal bounty of thick white asparagus and scarlet cherries abounds.

Spoilt for choice is not the word!  In the end, we walked away with vine tomatoes, beef tomatoes, large and small artichokes, courgettes rondes, a big bag of cherries, and of course, white asparagus. I had rubbed shoulders with real Parisians as I queued; I had marshalled my limited French vocabulary and communicated with the stallholder; and I had hand-selected each and every tomato.  If my French were better, you can bet I would have asked after his wife and his cat as well.

 

WhiteAsparagus

 

Asparagus is a perennial plant native to Western Europe which is prized for its edible stems and shoots.  Asparagus are a good source of dietary fibre; vitamins A, C, E and K; B vitamins; folic acid; and minerals such as iron, phosphorus, potassium acid, selenium and chromium.   White and green asparagus come from the same species – all that makes white asparagus white is the fact that it is grown in darkness, so the chrolophyll in the stems never photosynthesises or turns green. Although you often see the green asparagus for sale here in the UK, white asparagus is far more rare – but in the Netherlands, Spain, France, Poland, Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland, asparagus sold is almost exclusively white and it is prized for its tenderness and delicate flavour. White asparagus is only seasonally on the menu in these countries and asparagus dishes are advertised outside many restaurants, usually from late April to June. Many German cities even hold Spargelfests to celebrate the white asparagus harvest. With our bounty of fat white stems, I decided to hold a little Spargelfest of my own, choosing a dish that would emphasise rather than mask their delicate flavour.  Asperges a la Flamande is a dish from Flemish Belgium which sees the asparagus simply steamed before being served topped with a sauce of boiled egg, butter, lemon and nutmeg.  It is simplicity personified and really brings the flavour of the asparaus to the fore in a truly elegant dish.  I also added a personal touch by sprinkling the dish with some of my newest addiction: Halen Mon oak-smoked sea salt from the Isle of Anglesey in Wales – a true entente cordiale between European and British produce.

 

AsparagusALaFlamandeFinal

ASPARAGUS A LA FLAMANDE (serves 4)

Ingredients:

1kg fresh white asparagus
3 eggs
80g butter, melted
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
a fistful of flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
black pepper and smoked sea salt (I used Halen Mon)

Method:

Hard boil the eggs (about 6 minutes), then cool, peel and mash finely with a fork.

Using a vegetable peeler, peel the woody end of the asparagus spears, and chop off the bottom 2 centimetres or so of each stem.  Rinse and place in a steamer over boiling water. Steam for about 20 minutes or until the desired tenderness is reached (this will depend on the thickness of your spears – mine were HUGE!).

Once the asparagus are done, melt the butter and mix it together with the eggs, lemon juice, parsley, nutmeg, salt and pepper.  Spoon over the asparagus and serve at once, sprinkled with a little extra smoked salt.

 

DISCLOSURE – I received the Halen Mon sea salt as a free sample in the Plate to Page Somerset workshop goodie bag.  In Paris I stayed at therather fabulous Sofitel La Defense at a discounted rate. 

 

Brtmums LogoOn Friday 22 June I will be speaking as part of a round-table discussion entitled “British Blogging Now” at the Britmums Live 2012 blogging conference in London – and there’s still time to register!

 

 

 

 

SAFWIBI logoHave you booked your ticket yet to hear me speak at theSouth African Food & Wine Blogger Indaba in Cape Town, South Africa on 24 June?  I am speaking on “Ethics, etiquette and why we blog”, as well as presenting two photography workshops – one on getting your camera off the auto setting, and one on Photoshop/post-processing together with the talented Alida Ryder of Simply Delicious.  Buy your ticket today – they are selling out fast!

 

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  1. courtney says

    June 13, 2012 at 4:18 pm

    My old stomping grounds way back in the day.Today I would be more appreciative and see it in a whole new light.

    Reply
  2. janice tripepi says

    June 13, 2012 at 4:31 pm

    I enjoyed this post soooo much – the pictures get me all excited Jeanne. Those tomatoes! that garlic and the chickens! Haibo!

    Reply
  3. Regula @ Miss Foodwise says

    June 13, 2012 at 4:53 pm

    That are big asparagus!!! Lovely post 🙂

    Reply
  4. Andrew says

    June 13, 2012 at 6:48 pm

    I loves me a decent food market – so busy usually though that I seldom get to go to my local one. I seem to recall first having white asparagus in Alsace; I’m sure its a local delicacy and served with a Riesling (not my favourite grape as you know but rather decent with the food!)

    Reply
  5. Jamie says

    June 13, 2012 at 7:57 pm

    I love the story, love it! Hysterical and it really does put things into perspective! Your photos are beautiful but I LOVE the peonies! Pink peonies!!! My favorite flowers! And oooh the asparagus! We have tons of the fat white asparagus on the market but I haven’t bought any this year yet! You’ve inspired!

    Reply
  6. Krista says

    June 14, 2012 at 4:10 am

    I can just picture you as a little girl, pleased as punch with your linguistic prowess. 🙂 The asparagus is gorgeous!!! So plump and lovely. 🙂 It’s winter here, so my market is filled with oranges and kale and silverbeet and all those hearty wintry things. 🙂

    Reply
  7. Firefly says

    June 14, 2012 at 7:46 am

    I would love to have a market like that to go and do my fresh produce shopping at. If only.

    Reply
  8. Kit says

    June 14, 2012 at 1:34 pm

    All too beautiful – your pictures almost had tears welling! tears of nostalgia for Italian markets. Now I’m a South African practical convenience supermarket shopper but I remember the days of choosing each peach or tomato individually and buying fresh every day, back when I’d be making picnics every day for my clients in the Italian countryside.

    Reply
  9. Rosa says

    June 14, 2012 at 2:28 pm

    Lovely market clicks and gorgeous produces! That asparagus dish is really wonderful. Simple, but tasty.
    Cheers,
    Rosa

    Reply
  10. Sylvie @ Gourmande in the Kitchen says

    June 15, 2012 at 2:01 am

    Ha, it’s funny that the very thing your mom found so aggravating about French markets is what I’ve always loved most! I could spend hours at the market.

    Reply
  11. Brian @ A Thought For Food says

    June 15, 2012 at 12:50 pm

    Oh my goodness! This market looks incredible! What I wouldn’t do to have access to that!
    And this asparagus dish is right up my alley. Looks fabulous!

    Reply
  12. London Corporate Cooking says

    June 15, 2012 at 4:03 pm

    That’s a lovely story and I can understand how your mother felt. I understand but I have to say that I feel differently because I just love (organic) food markets. And I am absolutely chuffed to bits at the photos. This is ace.

    Reply
  13. Zirkie says

    June 17, 2012 at 7:45 pm

    Those Asparagus are huge!!!!

    Reply
  14. Meeta says

    June 21, 2012 at 8:18 am

    Ahh asparagus and Paris what a combination – something we need to put into our travel plans! The thing your mum disliked about markets is the thing I totally enjoy – love chatting and taking time to select (and photographing) the market stalls! Great post my borg sister!

    Reply
  15. MARLAR LWIN says

    May 12, 2016 at 6:28 am

    Thanks for this simple recipe which I will try as soon as the shipment of air-flown white asparagus arrives.
    I also liked reading about the markets in France. The few times I visited France, I always pre-checked where the weekend open markets would be. I was never disappointed.
    At least ten years ago, I came across a market in the countryside up in the hills of Auvergne. In addition to fresh fruits and vegetables, there were stalls selling articles made by the local artisans. I bought a beautiful set of fruit knives (the region is well-known for knives!) with olive wood handles which I treasure to this day. I should have bought more local handicrafts!
    Thanks again.

    Reply
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Jeanne Horak is a freelance food and travel writer; recipe developer and photographer. South African by birth and Londoner by choice, Jeanne has been writing about food and travel on Cooksister since 2004. She is a popular speaker on food photography and writing has also contributed articles, recipes and photos to a number of online and print publications. Jeanne has also worked with a number of destination marketers to promote their city or region. Please get in touch to work with her Read More…

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