Tarteletter med Rejer, Asparges og Dild

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy-bottomed saucepan, 2 litre
• •Wide pot for cooking the asparagus
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Swivel vegetable peeler
• •Whisk
• •Baking sheet

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the asparagus

   Lay each white asparagus spear flat on a board and peel from just below the tip down to the base. White asparagus has a tough outer skin, and if you don't peel it, the spears stay fibrous no matter how long you cook them. Snap off the woody ends or cut them away. Save the peelings and the trimmings. They go into the cooking water and give the sauce its flavor.

   A swivel peeler works better than a paring knife. Hold the tip gently and peel in long strokes toward the base. The spears bruise easily, so go softly.
2. 2

   Cook the asparagus

   Bring a wide pot of water to a gentle simmer. Add the sugar, the salt, and the saved peelings and trimmings. The sugar takes the edge off the bitterness that white asparagus carries; the peelings turn the cooking water into a quiet asparagus broth that becomes the backbone of the sauce. Lower the spears in carefully and cook for eight to ten minutes, until a knife slides through the thickest part with no resistance. Lift them out with tongs and set them aside on a plate. Strain the cooking liquid through a fine sieve and keep 300ml. This is half your sauce.

3. 3

   Cut the asparagus

   Once the spears are cool enough to handle, cut them on the diagonal into pieces about the length of your thumbnail. Keep the tips intact. They're the prettiest part and you'll want them visible in the finished filling. Set everything aside while you make the sauce.

4. 4

   Build the sauce

   Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. When it's foaming but not browning, add the flour all at once and whisk it into the butter until you have a smooth, pale paste. Cook this roux for two minutes, whisking the whole time. You're not trying to color it. You're cooking out the raw taste of the flour, which would otherwise sit in the back of the sauce and ruin it.

   The roux should smell faintly biscuity after two minutes, never toasty. If you see any color forming, lower the heat.
5. 5

   Add the liquids slowly

   Pour in the strained asparagus cooking liquid in a slow, steady stream, whisking constantly. The sauce will thicken almost immediately. Keep whisking until it's completely smooth, then add the milk in the same way. Let it come to a gentle simmer and cook for five minutes, stirring often, until the sauce has the consistency of thick cream and coats the back of a spoon. Stir in the double cream and warm it through. Don't let it boil hard once the cream is in. Hard boiling makes cream-based sauces split.

6. 6

   Season the sauce

   Take the sauce off the heat. Season with salt, white pepper, the lemon juice, and a small grating of nutmeg. Taste it. The sauce should be rich but bright, with the asparagus running through it like a quiet thread. If it tastes flat, it needs more salt or another drop of lemon. Adjust until it's right. You'll know when it's right because every spoonful will make you want another.

7. 7

   Warm the tartelet shells

   Heat the oven to 180C. Place the tartelet shells on a baking sheet and warm them for five to seven minutes. They go in to crisp, not to brown. A warm shell holds the filling without going soggy on contact, and a cold shell collapses the moment the sauce touches it. This is a small step, and it changes everything.

8. 8

   Fold in shrimp and asparagus

   Return the sauce to a low heat. Fold in the asparagus pieces and most of the chopped dill. Let everything warm through for a minute. Then add the fjord shrimp and stir gently, just enough to coat them in the sauce. The shrimp are already cooked. They only need to feel the warmth of the sauce, no more. If you cook them again they go rubbery and dull, and the whole point of fjord shrimp is their sweetness and their snap.

9. 9

   Fill and serve

   Set the warm tartelet shells on plates, three to a serving. Spoon the filling generously into each one, letting a little spill over the edge. That spill is part of the look and part of the pleasure. Scatter the remaining dill across the top and add a lemon wedge to the side of the plate. Serve immediately while the shells are still crisp and the filling is still warm. Tak for mad.

Chef Tips

• •White asparagus is in season in Denmark from late April to mid-June, with the peak in May. Outside that window, use green asparagus instead of frozen or imported white. Frozen white asparagus is watery and dull, and the sauce will reflect that.
• •Look for fjord shrimp in the chilled section, sold loose or in small tubs in brine. Drain them well before using and pat them gently with kitchen paper. Wet shrimp dilute the sauce. If you can't find Danish fjord shrimp, small cold-water shrimp from Greenland or the North Atlantic are the right substitute. Never use warm-water tropical shrimp. The flavor is wrong for this dish.
• •An aquavit or a glass of dry Riesling alongside is the traditional pairing. The cold spirit cuts the cream and lifts the dill, and a Danish lunch with tarteletter without something to drink beside it feels like a sentence missing its verb.
• •Make sure the filling is loose enough to flow. If it sits too thick in the pan, loosen it with a splash more milk. A stiff filling looks like wallpaper paste in the shell, and you want it to spill softly over the edge.

Advance Preparation

• •The asparagus can be cooked and cut up to a day ahead. Keep it in the fridge in a covered container with a little of its cooking liquid so it doesn't dry out.
• •The sauce can be made an hour or two ahead and kept warm over the lowest possible heat, stirring now and then. If it thickens too much on standing, loosen it with a splash of warm milk before folding in the shrimp.
• •Don't fold the shrimp into the sauce until the moment before serving. They lose their texture if they sit warm in the sauce for any length of time.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 380g)