Poached egg on Asparagus with white sauce.

This had to be the most delicious lenten dish that was prepared this Lent.  With the arrival of pencil thin fresh asparagus from the states, we have been enjoying this vegetable very much. 

With fresh asparagus in the supermarket, this is a simple but an elegant dish full of spring flavors!  My husband requested this dish as his Mom made this as a lenten dish. His Mom would make a basic white sauce to top over the poached eggs. 

Since I was out of bread, I made pan fried bread from the Refrigerator dough I had previously. This is something my Mom did as she was waiting for her bread to proof. I loved this treat with Cheese Whiz or with some of her homemade jam.  As a kid, I loved how the spread or jam would melt on the hot bread. 

A White Sauce  was prepared for the dish.  Grated cheese can be added to the sauce, but this plain sauce works perfectly with poached egg and roasted asparagus. 

Although the asparagus my Mom in law used was canned, fresh asparagus was roasted for a few minutes in a toaster oven. The ends were snapped, a drizzle of olive oil, some grounded black pepper and baked for 4 minutes.    Delicious!

To this I added fresh spinach and smoked salmon. 

Asian Noodles

It has been most interesting planning lenten dishes and looking for recipes that are not only meatless but dairy less. 

This Asian noodle recipe can be the base for many variation in seafood, noodles, vegetables and dressings.   

Noodle salad always looks great and is delicious!  The important thing is getting the right balance between heat, bitterness, salt and sugar in the dressing.  

• 1 T Peanut Butter
• 2 T sesame paste
• 2 T soya sauce
• 2 T rice vinegar
• grated ginger
• minced garlic
• 1 tsp garlic chili sauce

For me the dressing lacked acidity and sugar

• Increase the amount of peanut butter to 2 T and don't use the sesame paste, it just mudded the taste, instead drizzle sesame seed oil over the salad before serving
• Add lime juice to taste
• I did add 1 T sake

Julienned slices of cucumber and green onion along with grated carrot was added to the noodles, tossed in the adjusted dressing.  Other vegetables that could be added, pea pods, avocado, broccoli, cabbage etc.  

Garnish with sesame seeds, chopped cilantro, and smoked salmon 

The recipe I followed was by Smitten Kitchen as I had the ingredients, the blogger does talk about the noodles and the difference in taste.  

The beautiful bowl does come from Japan and was gift from a Japanese friend who visits her family regularly.