Asperges Blanches au Béchamel

Béchamel sauce is a staple of French cooking. Technically, this is not béchamel sauce because we used the water that the asparagus was cooked in the place of the milk, but were going with it.

White asparagus have a very short season, and are fairly expensive as they are hard to grow, so this dish is usually served as an "entrée." Contrary to the American way of naming courses, an entrée in France is a small dish that comes before the main course, after aperitif, during which you drink and eat small amounts of crackers and nuts.

Anyway, on to the dish.

Asparagus: wash, peel, and steam the asparagus, saving the water in which they were steamed
~ not everyone peels them, but you know that stringy stuff you often feel in your mouth while you eat asparagus? Estelle found a way to get rid of that... surprise surprise :)

Sauce:

GENTLY and SLOWLY

1* Melt 50g of butter in a saucepan and add flour slowly and stir gently until it is thick enough to form a cohesive ball. Faire une boule.

NOTE: if you try to reheat this sauce the texture will not stay smooth, so if you want to start early, do step one and then leave it until right before you want to serve. au dernière moment!

2* add the water from cooking the asparagus only one ladel at a time and stir with your wooden smooth until there are no little balls and it is completely smooth.

3* add another ladel of liquid (milk if you're making standard béchamel) until it is the consistency you desire. Probably a good four or five or more.

4* Salt, and add a splash of wine vinegar if you're eating it with asparagus!

This can be fun colors depending on what vegetable you're eating it with (ie, which juice you are adding)

**BONUS** Ill make a full post when I try it, but to make asparagus soup you can do this, but just keep adding the water until it is more soup than sauce, add in the cooked asparagus and food-process it all, and pass through a strain!! simple, but delicious, I would bet.