Bookless Dinner: Asparagus, Bacon and Eggs

Since I started the blog, I have wanted to make an effort to post more than once a week.  That has proven incredibly difficult in light of my day job and all, especially if I was to review two books a week! I would never sleep! So I will start my two post a week with a great weeknight dinner that uses the star (in my opinion) of spring produce - Asparagus.  I will share my "recipe" of this incredibly simple dish after the jump...

Union Atlantic and Strawberry Rhubarb Compote

I am in a springy mood!  I will be honest, the strawberry rhubarb compote I made this week really has nothing to do with Adam Haslett's Union Atlantic.  It was a great book (with a bit of a slow start) about three really messed up people and how their lives unexpectedly intersect.  It is also to some extent about the financial crisis and how it happened.  I was stumped when it was time to come up with a dish that was inspired by the book.  But, it being May,  I was inspired by the beautiful spring ingredients in the stores and also by mothers day.   So I decided to make my Mom's stewed strawberry rhubarb stuff (she never called it compote, but seems like a good name for it).  She made it every spring  and we ate it with dinner like a vegetable.  Unfortunately, I don't have a recipe for it and unfortunately never got a chance to make it with her.  I knew it must be simple since it was a weeknight thing she threw together.  I remember coming into the kitchen filled with a sweet strawberry smell tinged with something a little sour and different - the rhubarb, which turned stringy when cooked.   I tried to make this before last year but it was nothing like my Mom's - I cooked it too long and it was sticky and heavy like jam rather than light and refreshing.  This time I cooked it for less time and added less water, and it came out just right.   This is a quick and simple recipe and a great way in my opinion to use some spring rhubarb without putting in the effort to make a pie.  I eat it as is but it also would be great with yogurt, ice cream, stirred into a pound cake or cheesecake. 

The Imperfectionists and Roman Artichokes

I did not know when I picked up Tom Rachman's The Imperfectionists, right after Visit From the Goon Squad, that is was a similarly styled book.   Rachman's book chronicles the lives of a handful of people who work at (or in one instance read) an struggling English language paper in Rome.  There is no specific plot which ties all the characters story together, rather, like The Goon Squad it is almost like individual short stories, characters in one story show up in the others of course because it all about this one newspaper.  In between each person's story is a history of the paper, from its founding in the 50's through its eventual demise, roughly in the present.  Like The Goon Squad, this book was a great success.  There is a lot of humor in here, as well as some more serious stuff.  But it is the funny stuff I liked best.  To go along with a book set in Rome I made Carciofi alla Guidia, which translates to Jewish Artichokes.  I had these wonderful things in the Jewish quarter in Rome too many years ago and it is a dish Rome is known for.  Also, one of the characters in the book, Herman Cohen, makes them for his visiting friend.  It is a great way to use some wonderful fresh spring artichokes.