Asparagus with Mushroom Cream Sauce

This is a simple and elegant Jean-George recipe

Ingredients

20 fat asparagus spears
1 TBSP. butter
1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
1 Pound fresh mushrooms, trimmed, washed and chopped (ideally shitake
and cremini mushrooms are wonderful in this dish)
2 shallots, peeled and minced
salt and fresh peeper to taste
2 TBSP> dry sherry
fresh chopped chives for garnish

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Break off the woody bottom sections of the asparagus and peel the spears up to the flower buds.
2. Put the butter and oil in a skillet and turn the heat to medium high. When the butter is melted, add the mushrooms and shallots, season with salt and pepper to taste and continue to sauté until the liquid from the mushrooms has mostly evaporated, about 5 minutes. Add the cream and boil, stirring occasionally until most of the liquid is evaporated, about 10 minutes
3. In a separate pot, blanch the asparagus until bright green. Drain and keep warm.
   When the mushroom mixture is creamy but not soupy, stir in the sherry. Cook one minute and spoon over asparagus. Garnish with fresh chives.