Eggs Beltaine

Eggs Beltaine is a seasonal dish for late April/early May, more on that in a bit

1 lb of asparagus, woody ends trimmed off, and the rest cut into 1 inch chunks, (note 1 lb of asparagus is a lot ...)
4-6 Tbsps of butter (if you wanna get the good stuff it will shine here)
4 Tbsp of flour
2 1/2 cups of milk
salt, pepper
cayenne (a few dashes)
4 hard cooked eggs, chopped
4-6 English muffins, halved and then toasted

Steam the asparagus in a microwave in a covered dish with about an inch of water in it.  Cook it further than you would for eating it plain, but don't cook it all the way to British-style or canned asparagus. It should be past crisp tender, but not excessively mushy.  In our microwave this is 4 minutes.  Drain and set aside
In a medium saucepan melt butter over medium heat.  When the butter begins to foam add the flour and whisk, cooking for about a minute.  Slowly whisk in the milk.  Salt, pepper and cayenne to taste. Continue to cook over medium until boiling.  Remove from heat and mix in the chopped boiled eggs and asparagus.  Adjust seasonings.  This dish needs a fair bit of salt, but it's easy to add too much cayenne, although a good hint of cayenne is lovely in it.
Ladle asparagus/sauce mixture over the English Muffin halves, You can garnish with parsley, or dust a little more cayenne on top for color.

Even out kids like this one, if it doesn't have too much cayenne.

This dish is a great way to show off fresh asparagus, especially at the beginning of asparagus season.  It's a good way to use up left over Easter eggs too.  The combination of asparagus and eggs makes it especially appropriate for celebrating Beltaine itself, if you celebrate Beltaine.  Our family tends to make it as soon as we get our first asparagus in April, and then again in a few weeks for Beltaine proper, and maybe once more near the end of the asparagus harvest ...