Asparagus with ham, hollandaise sauce and Swabian pancakes

Ingredients for 6 servings:

• 225 g wheat flour
• 60 g butter
• 7 large eggs
• 1 bunch of chives
• 1 tsp, leveled salt
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• ½ liter of milk
• 6 slices of cooked ham
• 3 bunches of asparagus
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp, heaped salt
• 30 g butter
• some stalks of savory, if available
• Water
• 6 egg yolks
• 500 g butter
• 1 shallot(s)
• 4 cl apple cider vinegar
• 10 cl white wine
• 5 peppercorns
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper
• Tabasco
• lemon juice

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour; Cooking/baking time approx. 30 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes

Pancakes: Mix eggs and flour with a little milk, then add salt and nutmeg and gradually mix with the remaining milk to form a runny pancake batter. Gently brown the butter in a pan over high heat until nutty, let it cool for 30 seconds, and stir it into the batter. Finely chop the chives and add them just before frying. Heat a non-stick pan, the diameter of which should be larger than the length of the asparagus spears. Fry 6 large pancakes from the batter in a little butter, one after the other. Before each pancake, fry a slice of ham on both sides until crispy. Place the ham on the cooked pancake and keep warm in the oven on two baking sheets. Asparagus: Peel the asparagus and remove any woody ends. Bring the remaining ingredients to a boil. Carefully add the asparagus, bring back to a boil, then remove from the heat and let it stand for 20-25 minutes. Hollandaise sauce: Peel and finely chop the shallot. Sauté in a little butter without browning, then deglaze with wine and vinegar. Crush the peppercorns, add to the stock with the bay leaf, reduce by one-third, and pour through a sieve. Clarify the butter over low heat and let it cool. Whisk the egg yolks and reduction over a bain-marie, gradually stirring in the clarified butter. Season to taste with salt, white pepper, Tabasco, and lemon juice. Procedure: Stir the batter. Peel the asparagus. Cook the reduction, clarify the butter. Preheat the oven to 120°C. While the pancakes are frying, cook the asparagus. Then prepare the hollandaise. When the hollandaise is ready, remove the pancakes and turn the oven down to 220°C (top heat) or grill. To serve, fold the top quarter of the pancakes with the ham slices on top backwards and place the asparagus on top so that the heads hang over the folded-back quarter. Fold the sides of the pancakes forward, then flip them over. Place the pancake packets either individually on plates or together in a baking dish. Pour a generous amount of hollandaise sauce over the pancakes and bake in the oven.