Asparagus with Creamy Mustard Sauce

Last night hubby cooked a very yummy meal. He marinated some steak cubes in a bbq sauce that he invented himself (impressive) overnight. Then he grilled some salmon, grilled the steak, made some fettucini alfredo as a side dish and fixed me...some asparagus. It was DELICIOUS! And...as was my hope when I started this quest...he tried some himself...and LIKED it! He only had a bite, but it's a step in the right direction. He didn't give me the actual recipe, but it didn't take me long to search for it on the Food Network's website. I knew he got the recipe from there, knew it had whipping cream, lemon juice and Dijon mustard so it didn't take me long to find a recipe that matched pretty close:

Asparagus with Creamy Mustard Sauce

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds (I don't think these were used)
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Pepper
• 2 pounds asparagus, trimmed

Directions

In a small skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the almonds and cook, stirring frequently until fragrant and golden brown, about 5 minutes.

In a small bowl, mix together the cream, mustard, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.

In a Dutch oven, bring 2 quarts water to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the asparagus and cook until desired tenderness, or about 3 minutes. Drain well. Place the asparagus on a serving plate and top with the cream sauce and buttered almonds.

The only thing that doesn't ring right about this recipe is I know he blanched the asparagus. I don't know if he did that because that's what he wanted to do or what - but I really think that was part of what made it so good. So I'd add that part in. He also knows I don't love almonds (I can handle them in small portions) so those weren't used either.

All in all, I give it an A+, our first A+ of the blogging. However, I have no idea how fattening that sauce was. I've been trying to make veggie recipes that are low in fat and calories - I figure what's the point of learning to like veggies if they add more "crap" to my diet than I had to begin with? So make at your own risk, no nutritional information this time.

I do, however, have some pictures (and yes, that is my favorite glass of red wine!):

Dessert was a chocolate molten cake with vanilla ice cream. He also added some sea salt and cinnamon to the top of the cake. There's a candy shop in downtown Frederick that puts sea salt on my dark chocolate caramels - it's DELICIOUS!