The only reasons why I picked this name is:

1) This pie is made with asparagus

2) I made this pie for the Picnic in the Park we had last Sunday!

Creativity has never been one of my quality…

Btw, the picnic was a success! We got a multicultural group of 22 ppl from Korea, Thailand, Germany, USA, Italy, Taiwan and China.

We all gathered at Shanghai stadium at 10.30 am and by 11 o’clock we were on our way to BinJiang Forest Park.

Once at the park we found a nice, comfy piece of grass to lay on and have lunch. For the occasion I prepare a menu of:

– the picnic asparagus pie

– the Mediterranean Pasta Salad

– Corn- Chicken Salad with blueberries

– New York style Cheesecake

– Chocolate Chips Cookies

People ate and drank the fantastic Californian wine provided by Golden Gate Grapes and then start playing games, riding boats or just walking around the park

and then start playing games, riding boats

walking around the park or just laying on the grass napping

or cuddling , like these two

or these two

We left around 4 pm and head back to Sh Stadium. We were all exhausted but well-fed, drank and happy!

We are going to have an other Picnic in the Park event this Sunday May 22nd, so if you ppl out there are interested just send an email to expatcucina@gmail.com or comment to this post.

But now…now it’s time to make this tasty asparagus pie!

Ingredients (serves 10):

• 1 sheet puff pastry
• 20 spears asparagus
• 100 g bacon
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp salt
• 3 eggs
• 200 ml milk
• black pepper

Start by grabbing some fresh asparagus (I made 2 pies, but the ingredients are listed for one, so don’t pay too much attention to quantities shown in the pictures)

 

wash them and cut off the tips (about 8 cm)

and throw away the rest…we don’t need that

In a skillet heat up about 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil and the asparagus

Adjust with 1 tsp of salt, stir around, then cover with a lid and let cook for about 10-15 min.

Meanwhile grab 100 g of bacon

cut it into pieces

and add it to the asparagus

Stir around and cook for about 5-10 minutes

Roll out the puff pastry onto a standard pie pan

(NOTE: if you are in Shanghai, you can buy puff pastry at Marks and Spencer or on Smartdirect.cn)

Cover the button with the asparagus and bacon

In a bowl crack in 3 eggs, add 1 tsp of salt and some fresh ground pepper

beat up the eggs, then pour in about 200 ml of milk

Pour the egg/milk mixture onto the pie crust

Fold in the edges

and bake at 180 C for about 30-40 min or until center is set and edges get a nice golden-brown color

Remove from over and let it cool down

One serving provides:

• Calories: 261
• Fat: 19 g
• Carbohydrates: 13 g
• Protein: 8.4 g