Asparagus is here

First asparagus of the season, available to all those who braved the rain and made it to the Shaker Square Farmers Market. Paired with some ramp pesto riso and MillGate Farm's grass fed beef. I roasted the asparagus in a 425 degree oven in a little butter with salt and pepper. They came out tender-crisp and sweeter than any asparagus I've had in a long while. Great at room temp.

The beef is sauced with a shallot, bourbon, creme fraiche sauce. All that it involved was softening some shallots in the pan the steak was cooked in, adding and flaming some bourbon, adding a little water, creme fraiche, and seasoning and then swirling in some butter before straining the sauce. The shallots were from last season's crop from Snake Hill Farm, they're at the Market too. The beef had great flavor on it's own, but the sauce was addictive, and it would have been a shame to wash the fond down the drain.