Food Friday: Spring Greetings

Hello, spring! The snow has melted, the flowers are blooming and the sun is rising earlier every morning. Birds are singing show tunes. Here we have been watching clouds of pine pollen dredging every surface with yellow dust. It’s almost April and we are springing with joy for asparagus!
Asparagus tart

Humans have been gobbling up asparagus for ages. 20,000 year-old wild asparagus seeds have been found at archeological digs in Egypt. There is an image of asparagus in an Egyptian frieze that was painted before 3000 BC. Queen Nefertiti decreed asparagus to be the food of the Gods. In the first century AD Emperor Augustus quipped, “Velocius quam asparagi conquantur,” which every clever Latin wag knows means, “As quick as cooking asparagus”. A recipe for cooking asparagus even appears in the oldest known cookbook: Apicius’s Third-century AD De re coquinaria, Book III.

Asparagus, (or asparagi) named by the Romans, means “the first sprig or sprout of every plant, especially when it be tender”. There are four popular types consumed here in the twenty-first century: green, white, purple and wild. Green is what we usually find at the grocery store or farm stand. The new asparagus crops will be coming to market soon.

But I am wasting time inside here at the computer. It is spring, and time to enjoy the great outdoors and the bounty of asparagus that is rolling our way. Carpe asparagi! Seize your lively and persistent asparagus by the lapels, and cook it with abandon! I have nattered on before about our favorite way, which is to roast it on a cookie sheet under the broiler, with a scattering of salt, olive oil and a squeeze of lemon. We also like to roll it up in aluminum foil and toss it on the grill for a few minutes. You can celebrate Friday Night Pizza and add a handful to the pizza just as it goes in the oven. Or stick a few tender shoots on a piece of baguette with a schmeer of goat cheese. Don’t waste a minute, or a morsel. (Mr. Sanders has just acquired an air fryer, and has been blasting batches of broccoli, so I imagine he will be experimenting with asparagus soon enough. Updates to follow…)

Penne and Asparagus
1 pound penne or other short pasta
1 pound slender asparagus spears, trimmed, cut into one-inch pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon melted butter
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
1 5-ounce log soft fresh goat cheese

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Arrange asparagus spears in a single layer on a baking
sheet. Combine olive oil and butter and pour over asparagus. Season liberally with salt and
pepper and toss to combine. Roast, tossing as needed, for 15 minutes or until spears are
browned and tender.
2. Meanwhile, cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until al dente, stirring
occasionally.
3. While pasta is cooking, in a large bowl, combine lemon peel and goat cheese. Stir until
smooth.
4. Drain pasta, reserving 1 cup cooking liquid. Add hot pasta, asparagus, and 1/4 cup
reserved cooking liquid to bowl with cheese mixture. Toss to coat, adding more reserved
liquid as needed to make the sauce creamy. Season pasta to taste with salt and pepper.
4 minutes (cooking time, add some more for prep)
Asparagus

I still don’t like vegetables that have been stewed beyond recognition. And I resist kale on principal. Aren’t we lucky there are so many ways to enjoy asparagus? Lightly roasted, gently steamed, broiled, wrapped with bacon, folded into pasta, trembling on the edge of ancestral china, lightly dusted with grated egg yolks, rolled in sesame seeds, on top of pizza, in a quiche …
This might be too messy to eat with your fingers, but it is worth a try: Asparagus, Goat Cheese and Tarragon Tart I love the fact that there is no shame in using a store-bought puff pastry – life is short and pastry can be tricky.

Mass quantities of farm-fresh spring fruits and vegetables are ready for you to gobble up: The farmers’ market will be a delight! BTW – The St. Michaels Farmers Market opens for the season April 12: SMFM

Enjoy springtime!

“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.”
—Margaret Atwood

Jean Dixon Sanders has been a painter and graphic designer for the past thirty years. A graduate of Washington College, where she majored in fine art, Jean started her work in design with the Literary House lecture program. The illustrations she contributes to the Spies are done with watercolor, colored pencil and ink.