BRINGING IN THE SPEARS

Last Sunday was a great day at the Marin Farmers market. We ran into two of our favorite vendors. Chris from Zukerman Farms had some wonderful fresh asparagus. This is the official vegetable of Spring in our book. We purchased a couple of pounds of the largest spears he had. Thick is better. They are more tender and flavorful. In theory the thinner spears get wind blown, hence they become tougher. We also ran into Larry from Peppahead. He is the 'Picasso of the Pepper World'. Larry had some Bhut Jokolia powder to sell today. This is an extreme pepper that is not for the pepper novice. This pepper originated in India and is 5 times hotter than the habanero pepper. We took a tiny, tiny taste and were rewarded with a huge rush of heat. Chris broke out into a sweat when he sampled this powder from Hell. We purchased some 'Yuppie, Marin, Grass Fed, beef ribs from 'Marin Sun Farms'. We took our bounty home and fired up the barbeque.

The asparagus was wrapped in some home made buckboard bacon. It was sprinkled with some olive oil, salt & pepper, lemon juice and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. The ribs were rubbed with salt and pepper. Both the ribs and the bacon wrapped asparagus received a very light dusting of Bhut Joklia powder. You really need to be careful with this powder. Everything was cooked on a mesquite charcoal fired Weber kettle grill.

I was actually pleasantly surprised by the flavor of the grass fed beef ribs. 'Grass Fed' beef has not been my meat of choice. The beef was very tender and had a beefy taste. The flavor stood out and satisfied a corn fed beef lover. The chile powder created a very warm glow over both the dishes. The buckboard bacon wrapped asparagus made me feel so good that I hugged myself. A lot of Asparagus will be consumed while the season lasts. Bring on the Spears!

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