Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I have a great local greenhouse owner in my community who grows all sorts of bizzare things year round. we have a fabulous deal, he grows, i cook!

I concur with the phyllo wrapped asparagus; but, I would add a little roasted red pepper and goat cheese. I feel I would serve it with a smoked chipolte aioli too

Yep-
*Coral Campari Cake:
1 recipe Genoise
1 recipe Creme Anglaise
4 pink grapefruits
3 3/4 cups Campari, plus more for brushing
3/4 cup sugar
---------------------------------------------------------------
*Genoise-
6 eggs, room temp
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour, sifted with a pinch of salt
1 tsp. vanilla
3 tbsp butter, melted
Oven at 350. Set a pan 1/3 full of water on to boil. Grease 2 8 inch round pans. In mixer bowl, whisk eggs and sugar together. Place over simmering water and continue to whisk until the mix is warm and the sugar is dissolved, 3/4 minutes. Place on mixer and beat until it becomes pale and thick, 2/3 minutes.
With a spatula, fold in the sifted flour 1/3 at a time. Add vanilla and butter, folding til just incorporated.
Fill the cake pans and bake in the center of the oven 20-30 minutes til done. Remove from pans and cool.

*Creme Anglaise
4 egg yolks
3 tbsp sugar
2 cups half and half
1/2 vanilla bean (or 2 tsp vanilla)
Whisk yolks and 2 tbsp sugar together. Scald the half and half with last tbsp sugar plus the vanilla bean (or add vanilla extract after scalding)
Temper the egg mix with 1/3 of the cream, then add to the rest of the cream in the pan. Stir over low heat with a wooden spoon until the mix is thickened and coats the back of a spoon. Do not boil.
Strain thru a fine sieve and remove the vanilla bean. Allow to cool, then refrigerate in a tight container.

*Candied Peel
Peel one half of a grapefruit. Scrape of the white pith and slice into thin strips. Blanch the peel several times to remove bitterness. Bring one cup Campari and 1/2 c. sugar to a boil and cook til the sugar is dissolved. Add the drained peel and boil until the peel is dark pink 3-5 mins. Drain the peel on a wire rack (reserve the boil liquid for cake brushing if desired)

*Grapefruit
Peel and section the fruits, neatly as possible, removing as much of the white pith and membrane as you can. Bring 2 1/2 cups campari to a boil with 1/4 cup sugar and immediately pour over the grapefruit sections. Allow to cool and rest at least 2 hours, or as long as overnight, for the fruit to absorb the color and flavor.

*Assembly-
Slice each cake layer in half to make 2 layers.
Lay one on a plate and brush with the boil syrup mixed with 1/4 cup more Campari, or just sprinkle with Campari. Smooth on a very thin layer of the Creme Anglaise. Top with a second layer and repeat Campari and Creme. Cover the creme layer of this with grapefruit sections, laying flat and neat across the cake.
Top with the third layer, brush with syrup and creme. Add fourth layer and repeat, then top again with the grapefruit sections in a neat pattern.
Top with candied peel and serve with the extra Creme Anglaise on each plate.
Best assembled and served immediately to prevent sogginess. The individual components can be made up to 2 days ahead.

Really tasty and refreshing. Of course this could be adjusted with different cake types/cremes etc to your tastes. Really pretty presentation.
I like the soaked grapefruit over pound cake with whipped cream too. Yum.
Enjoy!

I love Campari...yum!
Will have to try it this way, never added the vermouth before, sounds good.
I have a Campari cake I love making and I bet adding vermouth to the Campari brushing liquid would be good too.

I'm a gadget freak:
Tools and Techiques by Williams-Sonoma
Gear For Your Kitchen by Alton Brown
I'm Just Here For The Food 2.0 by Alton Brown

As much as I love Cook's Illustrated, I couldn't put one of their books in my top three. Now if we move to Top 4, I have some suggestions.

http://nujoikitchendiary.blogspot.com/

Asparagus makes my pee smell funny, I avoid it!

Bumping this thread because I really want to know how bisbee's dinner with FMIL went ... What asparagus dish did you make? What was it like cooking in her kitchen on a holiday?

We love asparagus -- thanks for all the great recipes! My favorite appetizer is an asparagus roll-up:

1/2 lb. thinly sliced prosciutto
24 fresh asparagus spears (young, thin spears work best)
6 oz cream cheese, softened
1 tsp cracked black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder

Mix together cream cheese, pepper, garlic powder; spread on slices of ham. Lay two asparagus spears on cheese and wrap ham around. Place in a shallow baking dish. Cover and microwave on high for two minutes. Serve warm or cold.