Asparagus in Mustard Sauce

I quadrupled Jacques Pepin’s Asparagus in Mustard Sauce for Easter dinner, and it was a huge hit – especially the Mustard Sauce!

The Mustard Sauce was placed next to the asparagus in the serving line so people could add as much as they wanted. Sarah sat down at the table and said that she had added the sauce to the ham, too. After hearing her rave about it on the ham, the sauce was brought to the dining room table and passed around so we all could add it to our ham. It was truly incredible!

The Mustard Sauce was the surprise hit of the dinner. How could something so simple be so good? (To me, it’s the genius of Chef Jacques Pepin.)  Everyone started thinking about ways it could be used…on lamb…on grilled fish…   I admitted that I had used a bit as a salad dressing the night before.

The recipe is from Pepin’s Essential Pepin. On the cover, he says it has “More than 700 All-time Favorites from My Life in Food”. I love his style and look forward to trying a lot more of his favorites. There are no photos in the book, but it is full of charming illustrations done by Jacques. If you’re interested in classic recipes that just work, I highly recommend this book!

Jacques Pepin says that Asparagus in Mustard Sauce is a classic dish in French bistros and restaurants.  I think the Mustard Sauce is going to become a classic  in my kitchen!

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(Adapted from Jacques Pepin’s recipe in Essential Pepin)

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(print the recipe)

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Jacques uses canola oil; I substituted light olive oil, which worked fine. You don’t want to use a flavorful olive oil here. He used white wine vinegar; I used white balsamic vinegar.

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Serves 4

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1¼ pounds asparagus

3/4 cup boiling water

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Mustard Sauce

2 tablespoons Grey Poupon Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons light olive oil (or canola oil)

2 tablespoons walnut oil

2 teaspoons white balsamic vinegar (or white wine vinegar)

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

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1. Wash the asparagus and break off the ends.

2. Put the asparagus in a large pan. Pour the boiling water over it. Cover and turn the heat on high. When it comes to a boil, boil for about 3 minutes.

3. Put the cooked asparagus in a strainer, and let it dry and cool in the strainer.

4. When ready to serve, put the asparagus on a platter. Serve the Mustard Sauce on the side, or drizzle it over the asparagus on the platter. Serve at room temperature.

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Sauce:

I put everything in my Blender Ball and gave it a few shakes and it was ready. If you don’t have a Blender Ball, put everything in a bowl and whisk it together. It doesn’t matter if it is not fully emulsified.

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Mustard Sauce in the Blender Ball

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