Prudent Foodie

Heirloom Creamed Onions

 For years this has been a must have dish at the Thanksgiving and Christmas table at my home.  My mom learned this from her mom, who learned it from... well, I don't know how many generations of swedish grandmothers.  While it's traditional for holiday meals at our house, it's a great winter vegetable side for any meat dish.

You can use any kind of onion including pearl, cioppolino, white, yellow, etc.  I like to use small yellow onions, which are easier to peel than the pearl onions,and avoid larger onions, which you will want to quarter, and tend to fall apart when you parboil them.  You can prepare as many onions as you want for the number of  people as you're planning for, and make more sauce according to the proportions below. The amount given will do 1 or 1 and 1/2 pounds nicely.
I've often felt tempted to modernize or otherwise tart up this dish (you know, crisp some sage leaves in butter, then crumble them and add them to the bread crumbs, etc.) but I never have, because it's simply  wonderful just as it is.  So here's the recipe, if you find something interesting to update it let me know!

 

          CREAMED ONIONS

 2 T flour

2Tb butter

1 c.  half and half (you can use part milk if you are watching calories, but will lose a little of the creaminess)

1/8 tsp fresh grated nut

salt and pepper to taste

1 to 1 1/2 pound onions, peeled, and if you are using large ones, halved or quartered

Preheat oven to 350-400 degrees.  375 is ideal, but one of the beauties of this dish is that you can stick it in with something else  in this range of temperatures if you are making a large dinner.

To make the cream sauce melt the butter in a sturdy sauce pan, and then whisk in the flour, cooking for a minute or two, but not burning it.  Add the half and half and stir while it thickens, then add the nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste.   Set aside.

Take your peeled, rinsed, and if necessary, quartered onions and put them in a large sauce pan or stew pot, cover with water (you can add some salt to the water), cover, and bring to boil.   Turn heat down, and simmer until the onions are crisp and no more than half cooked, about 5 minutes or so, depending on onion size.  They will cook a bit more before you serve them.  They should be holding their shape well if you're careful.  Drain the onions, reserving some of the liquid for possible later use. 

Put them in a ovenproof casserole dish -  a deeper dish or bowl is better than a large flat one.  At this point, if the cream sauce has become very thick, thin it slightly with some reserved juice and then pour over the onions.  However, the onions never completely drain so there will be some liquid in them that will compensate for the thick sauce.  Top with dried bread crumbs (not necessary for taste, but makes it look better!)   Put it in the oven until it is bubbling around the edges and the onions are heated through in the center.  Enjoy!

Blood Orange and Cream Torte

 

When I was child living with my parents in Sweden (decades and decades ago), my mom would occasionally make this dessert during the relatively short blood orange season.  We never ate them at home in the USA, because at the time these colorful, tartly flavorful oranges were virtually unavailable.  Flash forward, and now blood oranges have become a hip and trendy ingredient, and are grown in  California as well as Spain where they all came from when I was a kid.  There is even a navel version, the Cara Cara, which is less tart than the regular fruit, and easier to peel.  However, its color is not as rich, and I recommend using the true blood orange for this recipe. 

This is basically a layered whipped cream and fruit torte, where the layers are made of a very short, rather cookie like dough.  It's light, which makes it  great for after a heavy meal, and full of fruit, so I recommend it for breakfast as well!  In fact, I made a variation on this and served it as part of New Year's breakfast at a friend's home yesterday. 

Another great feature of this dessert is that you can make the layers a couple days ahead and just store in a tupperware or other airtight container, then assemble later.  You want to assemble a couple hours before serving to allow the cream to soften the layers just a litte.

Blood Orange and Cream Torte

For the layers

Preheat the oven to 390 degrees F (200C). 

1 1/4 cups flour

10 TB butter (softened)

1 egg yolk, or 1/2 egg

3 TB sugar

Put all the ingredients in your cuisinart (using the steel chopping blade) and run until the dough forms a ball.  If you don't have a food processor you could cut the ingredients with a fork or pastry cutter and then add the egg, and blend into a ball.  Wrap the dough ball in waxed paper or plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour or so.  Don't let it get too stiff, or it will be hard to roll out into layers.  Take the chilled dough out of the fridge and on a floured, smooth surface (countertop, marble slab, silpat, etc.) roll it out (or spread it by hand - which I often find easier) into two circles or rectangles of the same size. Think about what you are planning to serve it on, and size them accordingly as these need to sit flat on the serving plate, or they will crack.  Bake on a cookie sheet (I line mine with parchment paper) for 9-12 minutes, until done. Cool, and assemble the torte, or you can store for a couple days. 

The Filling

4 blood oranges

 1/2 pint heavy whipping cream

 

1 TB powdered sugar and 1/4 tsp vanila extract, or 1 TB vanilla sugar

1 container orange passionfruit yogurt (or similar citrus yogurt)  - OPTIONAL

3 TB shredded coconut - OPTIONAL

Peel the oranges and slice into fairly thin and even slices.  You wnt to end up with enough to cover both layers of the torte.  It's good to have even slices on the top layer for looks.  Whip the cream with the powdered sugar and vanilla until it is fairly stiff - but not too stiff to spread well.  You can also try the option of replacing the vanilla extract and sugar by folding into the plain whipped cream a container of orange flavored yogurt. I did this, and served the cake for breakfast on New Years morning and it was excellent.   Assemble the torte by placing a layer of the cake on your serving plate and spreading half the whipped cream over it.  Then cover it with orange slices.  Put the second cake layer on and spread with the remaining cream.  Cover with orange slices.  If you like, you can sprinkle coconut over each layer of oranges - it is great with or without it!   Refrigerate the assembled torte for an hour or two before serving to exclamations of delight and compliments ;-)  DeeDee

Fresh Tomato Barbeque Sauce

At this time of year I always have too many tomatoes, and there are some that are getting to be a little over ripe, or that have spots on them. So, it's nice to think about things that you can use these lower quality tomatoes for - and barbeque sauce is a good one.  Making your own is easy and rewarding - you can get a far more flavorful and interesting product than in one of those plastic squeezy bottles!  This recipe relies less on sugar for flavor than many; if you prefer a very sweet barbeque sauce you can alway add some brown sugar to this. 

I start by peeling and seeding the tomatoes, which is a bit of a pain, but it's kind of fun to slip the skins off, so I try to remember that!  Boil water in a sauce pan, deep enough to cover your largest tomato.  Stick a fork in the top of the tomato and plunge it into the boiling water for a couple of minutes.  You'll see a split in the skin usually, this means that you can peel it off.  Remove from the boiling water and do so - a paring knife is handy to spped things up.  Here is a how to video if you need to get some extra information.

Fresh Tomato Barbeque Sauce

6-8 medium to large tomatoes

1/4 cup good quality orange marmelade

1/4 cup blackstrap molasses

1 heaping TB cocoa powder

2 Tsp Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce

1 TB olive oil

1 medium onion diced

1 tsp fresh ground cumin

2 garlic cloves

1 ancho chile diced (or use a couple of serrano or chile peppers)

1/4 cup tomato paste

salt and pepper to taste

 

Peel and seed the tomatoes, chop coarsely and set aside in a bowl.   In a largish sauce pan saute the peppers, onion, garlic and cumin for a few minutes over medium heat until the onion starts to soften.  Add the tomatoes, and cook for a few minutes - until they soften and start to break down.  Use a potato masher or a large fork to mash them up a bit.  Add the remaining ingredients and stir.  Taste, and add salt and pepper as you prefer.   Sometimes the sauce is too thick; you can add some water or if you are feeling motivated, put the seeds and skins from peeling the tomatoes in a seive and add this juice.   If you are so inclined, you can also add a little bourbon to this and cook it down.  This is great on chicken, pulled pork, ribs, etc.  Put it in a jar and refrigerate it until you want to use it. Or, put it in a heavy storage baggie and freeze.  Enjoy those fresh tomatoes any time!  DeeDee

Aromatic Pear Cake for Fall

I've had a long and troubled relationship with fennel - it goes back to a childhood experience which can only be described as palate abuse.  In order to be polite at the home of some friends of my parents, I had to consume a large bowl of bouillabaise so strongly flavored with fennel seed that nothing but the smoked eel in the soup could come close to conquering it.  I managed to choke it down, but I was scarred for life in the fennel department :-) So, while I am quite fond of the root, the seed has never figured in anyway in my cooking. 

A while back my cooking role model, Gloria, made some fabulous fennel scented sweet breadsticks, which started me on the road to fennel recovery.  Fennel can be truly overpowering as I've mentioned, but I've since learned more about using this difficult spice in baking, and I recently felt the urge to modify a recipe I posted a few weeks ago to incorporate it.  I liked the idea of modifying this cake to use pears and infuse it with fennel to bring an italian sort of flavoring to it.

In spite of the italian idea, I bought the fennel seed I used to make this at the Indian grocery store when I was there buying basmatic rice. The owner asked me if I wanted the "sweet fennel" or the regular kind.  Who knew there were two kinds?  So, I asked for sweet since I was making cake, and the bag I got was labeled Fennel Seed Lucknowi.   For more information about  fennel you can go here.   I used very small Seckel pears from an heirloom orchard when I baked this cake, and it took 4 or 5 of them, but if you use regular sized pears a couple will do.

 

Aromatic Pear Cake

1-2 large pears, or 4-6 small ones

1-2 tsp grated oranged zest (~ 1/2 of the rind)

1/2 tsp fennel seed, coarsely ground in your mortar and pestle

1 cup flour

1 heaping tsp baking powder

pinch salt

1 scant cup sugar (about 7/8 cup)

4 TB butter, softened

2 eggs

2 TB brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Butter an 8"x8" baking pan.  Cream together the butter and sugar, and then add the eggs and orange zest.  Mix the salt, baking power, ground fennel and flour and beat into the creamed butter, sugar and eggs.  Pour the batter into the baking dish. It will be quite stiff, so you'll probably want to use a spatula to smooth it out a bit.  Take the pear slices and lay them in lines across the entire top of the cake.  Sprinkle with the  brown sugar.  Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour; this will vary with your oven so be sure to start checking for doneness after about 40 minutes. 

This is an incredibly simple, old fashioned cake recipe that my Mom learned from her grandmother.   With whipped cream it makes a wonderful dessert, but served plain  it makes a great coffee cake, or even breakfast  ;-)   Enjoy!  DeeDee

Garlic Infused Squash Bisque

  

I have a love-hate relationship with squash - it's plentiful and cheap (my neighbors sell them out of their yard for 25 cents!) but it takes  long time to cook, and many squash recipes are just too sweet for my taste. This soup avoids the sweetness trap, I think and m akes a satisfying winter meal.  I recommend using butternut squash for this recipe, but you could certainly make it with another variety of your choosing.

Start  by making the garlic infused roasted squash.  This is a nice trick to add flavor to any squash that you are roasting to use in another recipe.

Garlic Infused Roasted Squash

1-2 medium to large butternut squash

1 TB olive oil

4-8 cloves garlic peeled

Preheat oven to 400F.  Split the squash in half and remove the seeds and stringy material around them. For every half a squash you are roasting peel 2 -3 garlic cloves.  Line a jelly roll pan or glass roasting dish with parchment paper or aluminum foil (optional, this is just to make your pans easier to clean) and rub with olive oil.  Lay the squash cut side down on the roasting dish and put the garlic cloves inside the hollow that you made when you scraped out the seeds.  Put them in the oven and roast for about 45 minutes to an hour, until the flesh of the squash is soft al the way through.  If you are using a very small variety of squash, like buttercup, this may take less than 45 minutes. when the squash is cooked, peel off the skin, mash the squash and save for later use or make this soup.  YOu can mash the steamed garlic cloves into the squash, discard them, or spread them on some good bread with a little olive oil and enjoy them on the spot!  I recommend mashing them into the squash for this soup.

Garlic Infused Squash Bisque

1/3 cup diced celeriac

1/2 cup diced carrot

1 medium onion, dice fine

roasted red pepper, chopped fairly fine

1 TB olive oil

4 sage leaves, minced  I used fresh from my garden, but crumbled dried leaves are fine too

8-10 cups garlic infused mashed butternut squash (about 1 1/2 to 2 good sized butternut squash will give you this much)

3/4 cup heavy cream

red pepper

black pepper

1 quart soup stock (I used chicken but vegetable will work fine as well)

1/2 cup heavy cream (or yogurt if you prefer)

water to thin the soup if it too thick for your preference

Saute the onion and red pepper in the olive oil for 5-10 minutes or until the onion is a litle yellow and soft. Meanwhile, put the diced celeriac and carrot in a small covered microwavable dish with about 1/2 cup  water and cook for 3-4 minutes, until the vegetables are slightly cooked.  Put the carrot and celeriac, with the water in the dish and the onion, red pepper mixture into a large covered soup or stew pot and then add the squash and the stock and stir well.  Add the finely chopped sage leaves and a lot of fresh ground black pepper to taste.  If the soup is too thick (mine was) add water a cup at a time until it is the thickness you prefer.  Cover and bring to the simmer for 30 minutes or so to let the flavors blend.   Add the cream, or if you prefer yogurt, stir again and then check the seasoning, adding more salt and pepper to taste.  A dash of Lea and Perrins Worcertershire sauce could also be added at this point if you like! Serves about 6.

 

This soup is great served with a salad dressed with a tart vinaigrette to contrast with its creamy, earthy sweetness.  It also makes great leftovers or a make ahead meal.  Enjoy!  DeeDee

Super Simple Plum Cake

 

It has been plum season for a couple months now, starting with the yellow ones, and moving on through a whole range of shades and flavors from tart to sweet.  Now that we are close to the end, at least here in Michigan, of plums for the year, the damson type prune plums with names like Stanley and Vision are in the market.  These are some of my favorites, and I love to use them in this ridiculously simple recipe that my mom learned from her grandmother.  Although I highly recommend plums for this, you can use peaches, apples, etc. as well.  I hope that you and whoever you share this with enjoy it as much as I do!

8-12 damson type plums, such as the Stanley variety, pitted and cut into 6-8 slices

1 cup flour

1 heaping tsp baking powder

pinch salt

1 cup sugar

4 TB butter, softened

2 eggs

3TB brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Butter an 8"x8" baking pan.  Cream together the butter and sugar, and then add the eggs.  Mix the salt, baking power and flour and beat into the creamed butter, sugar and eggs.  Pour the batter into the baking dish. It will be quite stiff, so you'll probably want to use a spatula to smooth it out a bit.  Take the plum slides and lay them in lines across the entire top of the cake.  Sprinkle with brown sugar.  Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour; this will vary with your oven so be sure to start checking for doneness after about 40 minutes. 

I like to serve this with softly whipped cream flavored with a little vanilla and sugar, and I am sure you will like it this way too.  Enjoy!  DeeDee

Homemade Fudgesicles!

When I was a kid, back in the '60's  - aagh  - my mom had Tupperware popsicle molds which we filled with Kool-Aid of course and enjoyed on those steamy central Illinois summer nights.  I'm sure that if you had an MSDS for the Kool-Aid compositions which prevailed 45 years ago it would be a scary thing oday.  Anyway, a few years ago when my mom was "deaccessioning" (can you tell she is a librarian?) some stuff, I got a baggie full of Tupperware popsicle parts.  These resided in my linen closet until this summer when I was seized with the urge to produce some fudgesicles.  This roughly coincided with an urge to find a cold drink for my after run hangout at Zingerman's. 

Last summer I was loving the Thai iced tea, but it must not have been a great seller, as I haven't been able to get it.  I've tried pouring the spanish drinking chocolate over ice (pretty good) but it's been out of stock lately too. The chocolate egg creams (or chocolate phosphates as we used to call them in Illinois)  are pretty good, but not chocolatey enough, IMHO.  I was having a conversation about this with one of the staff, and decided to try their mexican hot chocolate over ice instead, when we started discussing fudgesicles and the idea to use it for a frozen treat was born. 

Zing's mexican chocolate is a rather "primitive" coarse chocolate which has ground almonds, cinnamon and a bit of sugar added.  I think this gives the product a nice depth, but really you could use any high quality, dark chocolate for this - I recommend a product that is at least 72%  cocoa for this recipe.   In addition to the ingredients below, you'll need a home popsicle kit; at the link you'll see that Amazon has a huge variety (they even come in stainless steel) none of which are as funky as mine :- )

Homemade Fudgesicles

4-5 oz high quality dark chocolate (or Zingerman's mexican chocolate)

1 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk:  note, you don't want to use the kind in the can, I used So Delicious brand, which can be found in the milk section of the dairy cooler.

1 cup whipping cream

Melt the mexican chocolate in the coconut milk in a heavy sauce pan and stir well.  Let cool at room temperature, or speed things up by cooling the mixture over a bowlful of ice.  Whip the cream fairly stiff - I usually prefer a soft whipped cream, but the idea here is that the air bubbles in the whipped cream prevent long hard ice crystals from forming as the fudgesicle freezes.  The stiffer cream holds more air, hence it works a bit better. 

Fold the cooled chocolate and coconut milk mixture into the whipped cream, using the standard "figure 8" folding method, to retain the air. Use a spoon to insert this stiff mixture into the molds.  I usually have to put about half of the chocolate cream in then tap the mold to eliminate big bubbles, and then fill them up. Fill the molds, freeze overnight and enjoy!  Whoever you share these with will love you!  DeeDee

PS.  you could "adulterate" these by adding amaretto or grand marnier for the grown up crowd.

Grilled Scallops or Chicken Marinated in Yogurt and Harissa

I love scallops, and I'm happy to report that our local Whole Foods has run a few sales recently on huge, fresh, juicy sea scallops, which have promoted creative recipe thoughts.  I'm also happy about scallops because they are sustainable seafood; for a long time now, as a non-meat eater I've worried about my seafood choices.

so, this may be the easiest recipe ever in the Prudent Foodie.  It's a variation on a suggestion I read years ago that yogurt made a great seafood "marinade" which it does.  You can add almost anything (curry powder, onions, thyme, tarragon, chili powder) and it will work.  I happened to have some left over Harissa - a north african spice mix, and was trying to decide what to do with it.  I decided that a North Africa meets Thai satay meets yogurt might work and this is the result.  It tasted great, and was SO easy.  I think scallops are pretty good value when they are only $10 or $11 a pound, since there is zero waste, and they are so rich that just a few will fill you up. But it is still quite a bit of money. So, it's good to know that you can substitute boneless skinless chicken for the scallops in this recipe, if you don't care for sea scallops, or think they are too expensive.  I find Harissa at the local Mediterranean Market, but if middle eastern and north african markets are uncommon in your area you can obtain it from various mail order sources; Zingermans offers a very good product.  This amount will serve two to four depending on your appetite and the dishes you serve with it.  If I wanted to serve four and fill them up, I'd up this to 1.5 pounds, I think.

Grilled Sea Scallops (or Chicken) Marinated in Yogurt and Harissa

1 lb sea scallops (or boneless skinless chicken)

2/3 cup plain yogurt

1 tsp sugar

1 1/2 TB harissa paste 

Stir the yogurt, harissa and sugar together, add the scallops and stir again. Put the mixture in zip top plastic bag, or a plastic tub with tight fitting lid and marinade for two to 24 hours.

Remove from the scallops from the marinade, but allow the yogurt to cling to them as you put them on bamboo or thin metal skewers.  Broil or grill two-four minute a side if you are doing scallops, longer for chicken.   The yogurt and harissa produce a sweet hotness that is great with scallops!   

The harissa provides a north african flavor that is great with couscous, which is what I'd recommend serving with these.  I tried adding about 1/4 tsp to the water when I made the couscous, which added just a bit a heat and smokiness -  it was great. 

DeeDee

Strawberry Beef with Polenta

The Prudent Foodie has been on a long hiatus - I've been working really hard and had no time or energy for much in the way of creative cooking, or for blogging.  One of my colleagues expressed resentment a while back that I somehow found time to be DeeDee, and blog on food once a week - something that depressed me, but today I feel like squeezing it in even though I spent most of the day writing proposals.    So, it's strawberry time here in Ann Arbor - a week and a half ago there were just a few very pricey ones, but 10 days of hot weather and two inches of rain has them busting out all over.  As a result, I got a couple quarts quite reasonably at the farmers market yesterday, and got inspired last night by them and the peas that are coming in my garden.  Give me a moment here to brag on the fact that I have peas in my garden before there are any in the market!  I started them in early March in my cold frame, and am enjoying the early effort.  Thomas Jefferson competed with him neighbors to have the first peas of the spring, and tasting them crisp off the bush, it's easy to see why.

You might think first of oriental food when you combine beef and peas, and especially when you add strawberries, but I wanted a more mediterranean flavor profile, so I got daring and came up with this.  Strawberries, like tomatoes, are both sweet and tart, and this produces a creamy  sauce which is really good with the beef.  The recipe makes enough for two people - easily increased for many more!

1 cup ripe strawberries

3 or 4 spring onions, or 1 small yellow onion, diced fine

1 clove garlic, minced

Leaves (and flowers if in bloom) from 8 to 10 sprigs of fresh thyme, or 1 tsp dried

1/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

1/3 cup red wine

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 to 1 lb beef skirt steak (or flank steak)

1 cup or more of fresh snow peas or snap peas, with the ends and stringy tops trimmed

1/2 cup cream or sour cream

1 cup polenta

Double Boiler Polenta

Set up your double boiler if you have one - if not a smaller sauce pan inside a large one works great - I have been doing it that way for over 30 years :- )  Put one cup of polenta in the pan, and add 4 cups of boiling water.  Keep the heat under the pan of water very low.  Stir everything well when you add the water, then stir occasionally while you make the rest of the meal.  Add olive oil, butter, salt and pepper to taste to the polenta immediately before serving.

Beef with Strawberries and Fresh Pea Pods

Dice about 3/4 cup  of the strawberries, and cut the rest of them into larger chunks. Put the diced strawberries, onion, garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, wine, thyme, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix, while mashing the strawberries a bit. Reserve the strawberry chunks. Slice the skirt steak or flank steak into strips 1/4 inch wide and 2-3 inches long.  Add to the marinade and rest for a few hours at room temperature or a couple days (refrigerate if you do this!).  Remove the beef strips, reserve the marinade, and put the meat in a cast iron or stainless steel skillet at medium high temperature to which you have added a Tb of olive oil. Saute the beef to brown it, and then add the marinade and simmer for a few minutes to slightly reduce the sauce.  Taste and add salt and pepper if needed.  While you are doing this, microwave the peas for 90 seconds or two minutes - until they are a bit tender, but not limp (unless you prefer them limp, of course).  When the polenta is ready, and the sauce is reduced, add the cream or sour cream to the beef and sauce, stir and simmer a few moments longer to bring to temperature.  Add the pea pods and stir.  Put a scoop of polenta into a bowl, and ladle over it some of the beef and pea pods.  Sprinkle some of the strawberry chunks over the top, and add some shredded parmesan cheese if you choose.  Serve it forth and celebrate the season!  DeeDee

Asparagus and Pasta with a Lemon Sauce - Meat Optional

This year the asparagus has been extra early, and I'm really enjoying it!  There are so many things you can do with asparagus, but this simple, lemony pasta is one of my favorites.  A few years ago, I decided I wanted a creamy lemon sauce to use with pasta and asparagus, and after a little experimentation, this is what I came up with.  It's a bit like a very light hollandaise, but much more fool proof to make. 

As you might guess from the title, I usually make this with just asparagus and pasta, because at this time of year, who needs anything else?  On the other hand, the addition of some chopped chicken or a few sauted scallops, will make a complete meal for a meat eater as well, so I'm including those possibilities too.  With regard to herbs, you can just add salt or pepper, or a little tarragon is always good with asparagus.  If you are feeling quite trendy, replace the tarragon with some lavender for a little different flavor. I use fresh, since I grow both, but dried will work fine as well. Use half as much if you use dried.  I also like to add chives at this time of year, when they are freshly sprouting in my garden.

Pasta and Asparagus with Lemon Sauce (with optional Chicken or Scallops)

2 egg yolks

2 TB butter

~ 3TB lemon juice (usually this is 1/2 of a juicy thin skinned lemon, or a whole thick skinned one)

3/4 cup cream

1 TB chopped fresh chives (optional)

1 TB chopped fresh tarragon (optional)

1 TB chopped fresh lavender (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

3/4 pound fresh asparagus

1 chicken breast OR 1/2 pound bay scallops  - optional

2TB extra virgin olive oil

1/3-1/2 package linguini

Snap the ends of the asparagus, cut into two or three inch long pieces, and place with 1/4 cup water in a covered microwave dish, and set aside.

Meat Option: Saute the the chicken breast or the scallops in the olive oil.  If you are using the chicken, chop it into bite size pieces.  Set aside in a covered dish to stay warm.  

In a saucepan, beat the egg yolks with a wooden spoon or birch whisk, then add the lemon juice and stir well.  Add the butter, and turn on the lowest possible heat then stir continuously until the butter melts.  Add the cream and either the lavender or the tarragon and chives if you are adding herbs.  Continue to stir while you allow the creamy sauce to warm up.  Do not let it boil, but allow it to cook slowly and thicken a bit as it warms up.  If it is too thick you can add more cream, or very carefully, some milk or half and half.  Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Meanwhile boil a pot of water for the pasta, and when your butter for the sauce is just melted, toss it in and cook as you like it.  Have the water boiling, or it will take longer than the sauce.  This is not a real big problem, since this is an unfussy sauce, and you can let it sit a little while and rewarm gently if you need to.

Just before the sauce and pasta are done, put your asparagus in the microwave for 3-4 minutes to steam (just long enough so that the pieces are cooked but still a big crunchy).  Drain the asparagus and the pasta, and stir them together with the sauce, and the chicken or scallops if you are using them, in a warm bowl.  Snip a few extra chives over the top if you like for looks.  Serve to great acclaim!  DeeDee