Let me show you how to make the most popular White Asparagus dish in Germany: Traditional German White Asparagus with Sauce Hollandaise, Sliced Ham, and Boiled Potatoes. If you get your hands on fresh white asparagus, this is the dish to make!
Check out my Ultimate Guide to German White Asparagus in my Learning Centre to learn how to buy, peel and cook this unique German vegetable.
The white asparagus season starts in mid-April here in Germany. In Frankfurt, more and more selling points appear that sell this delicious vegetable in many shapes and sizes. And finally, I decided to get some of it and cook one of the most classic dishes in German cuisine – White Asparagus with Sausage Hollandaise, sliced cooked ham and boiled potatoes.
This simple, elegant and delicious dish stole my heart a few years ago. Now is my favourite way to celebrate the white asparagus season in Germany. Boiled potatoes and white asparagus go well together, without a doubt. Cooked ham and sauce hollandaise are not too dominant and therefore are the perfect ingredients to accompany this dish.
White Asparagus Checklist
Buying, preparing and cooking white asparagus might seem tricky at first, but it isn’t. Here are some things to keep in mind before you start.
- buy fresh, straight, white asparagus
- keep asparagus before cooking max. 2 days in the fridge, wrapped in a wet towel
- If you use a vegetable peeler to peel asparagus, peel it from the head to the bottom; you need to go around it at least 2-3 times. If you want to get quicker, get yourself a white asparagus peeler, my favourite is the Double peeler from Westmark.
- Start peeling white asparagus below the head, peel toward the end. Repeat until you have finished peeling the whole stalk.
- Cut off the ends – at least 1 cm
- Check every single asparagus to see if there are no remaining fibres left
- Keep the peeled asparagus in a pot of water or a wet towel until you cook it – don’t let it dry!
- There are different ways to cook white asparagus. For this recipe, I will show you how to cook it in a Dutch oven because probably many of you don’t have the fancy high pot (similar to a spaghetti pot). I am using my 5.5 L Fissler with a 26cm/10 inches diameter, which has enough space for the asparagus to lie flat in the water.
Sauce Hollandaise - Store-bought or Homemade?
Before having kids, I made hollandaise sauce for this dish while cooking white asparagus. I usually get my favourite product from the grocery store in my new life. If you like any store-bought sauces, I wouldn’t think twice. Just go for it, warm it up, and the dinner is ready. If you live in Germany, I recommend using Thommy Sauce Hollandaise. Both full-fat and “légère” are great substitutes.
Choosing the perfect ham
When it comes to choosing the perfect ham for this dish, I would choose a ham that you like. I usually select mild-cooked ham without any extra spices or herbs. Those many different flavours can change the dish significantly, and ham, let me remind you, is not the most crucial side of this dish. Long story short, serve it with the ham you like, preferably choosing ham with milder tastes without extra flavours.
Love to try new white asparagus dishes?
If you love white asparagus as much as I do you should try my favorite white asparagus dishes:
Check out my Ultimate Guide to German White Asparagus in my Learning Centre to learn how to buy, peel and cook this unique German vegetable.
Traditional German White Asparagus with Boiled Potatoes and Ham Recipe
Potatoes
- 5-6 potatoes medium
- 2 liter water for potatoes
- 1 tablespoon salt
Cooking White Asparagus
- 3 liters water for asparagus
- 1 kg white asparagus
- 3 tablespoons sugar white
- 3 tablespoon salt
- 30 gram butter
Serve
- 5-6 slices ham cooked
- 250 mililiter sauce hollandaise
- 1 tablespoon parsley chopped
- In the medium pot place the potatoes and bring water to boil. Put 1 tablespoon of salt and cook the potatoes over low heat for 15-20 minutes or until done.
- Rinse white asparagus using cold water. Tap if dry.
- Peeling white asparagus with a vegetable peelerIf using a vegetable peeler, place the white aspragus stem on the long chopping board. Peel each stem three times below the head to the bottom to ensure I don't leave any wooden parts. Cut out the bottoms. Please don't throw away the peel.
- Peeling white asparagus with the double peelerTake a white asparagus stem in your hands and slide the peeler towards the bottom. The Westmark double peeler peels more generously, so you have to go around the stem once. Nevertheless, after peeling, I would check the stem and remove the remaining wooden fibres with a vegetable peeler.
- Take a large pot (I use 5.1 l, 26cm/10 inches diameter Fissler Dutch Oven - because it fits the length of the asparagus) and pour water for the asparagus into it. (The recipe video was created in the caravan, the pot there was a bit too small for while asparagus, therefore we had to shorten it)
- Add salt and sugar to it and stir until sugar dissolves. Add asparagus and bring it to a boil.
- Cook asparagus over medium-low heat for 8-10 minutes. If you have thicker pieces it can take up to 12 minutes to be well cooked. Set aside.
- Keep the broth.
- Cook or warm up your sauce hollandaise.
- On the large plate put cold, rolled ham slices, boiled potatoes, and white asparagus.
- Pour warm sauce hollandiase over asparagus.
- Garnish with parsley.
- Serve immediately.
- Take the pot with the asparagus broth and add the peel to it.
- Bring it to boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Take the peel out of the pot.
- Pour the broth from the pot into a large bowl and take the pot and heat it up to medium. Add butter, let it melt.
- Add flour and stir to combine. Wait until the mixture boils. Keep on boiling and stirring for 3-4 minutes.
- Add the asparagus broth with the ladle one-by-one and keep on stirring vigorously.
- As soon as you added the whole thing ass cream, bring it to boil. At this point your soup is ready. You can store it in the fridge up to 3 days or freeze it if you wish.
1 thought on “Ultimate Traditional German White Asparagus Recipe”