It’s one of those culinary harbingers. Juicy, crisp local asparagus, cut that day or at most the day before, barely steamed and dipped in mayo mixed with curried mustard, it’s the perfect hors d’oeuvre with a glass of wine while sitting outside before the skeeters emerge. One of the inexpensive but rich pleasures in life. Asparagus sprouts wild along the highways and the ragged edges of fields. True country foragers like my husband note where it waves feathery fronds in June, then return the following year to clip the shoots as they come up. Easily cultivated, it annually reaches green fingers skyward from perennial roots that can produce for 25 years or more.
Asparagus is full of vitamins A and C, and is a minor but delicious delivery system for riboflavin, phosphorous and calcium. And one cooked cup is only 30 calories. Of course, that’s before the hollandaise, the curried mayo dip, or asparagus quiche with cream and gruyere. Never mind. There’s only a three-week or so window for fresh local asparagus, and whatever you do with it is probably well worth the calories.
Like many vegetables, asparagus can be a superb side dish, simply grilled or roasted and spritzed with lemon juice, or lightly tossed with butter or olive oil and garlic. Or it can be more.
Take the same grilled or roasted asparagus, drizzle it with vinaigrette and top with chopped hardboiled eggs for a more substantial lunch or roll it into an omelet or add it to a little chicken and sautéed mushrooms in a crepe. It’s a nice addition to stir-fried veggies (asparagus, pea pods, scallions, tamari and sesame oil) and makes a pasta primavera truly spring. Asparagus soup, which can be both delicious and low-cal, only takes about fifteen minutes to make. (Visit the link below to see Spy Illustrator, Jean Sanders’s and my entry in Amanda Hesser’s Whole Foods asparagus contest.)
Asparagus can also be a featured ingredient in something more elaborate; Silver Palate Good Times cookbook has a recipe for a layered chef’s salad with homemade tuna mayonnaise dressing that is both dramatic – especially if you make and serve it in a glass trifle bowl – and substantial. I make it religiously once a year at least. It’s a great make-ahead meal for a garden party, a dressed-up Sunday brunch or a satisfying supper on a steamy evening.
The food network has a bunch of delicious-sounding ideas for asparagus – so many recipes, so little time! — including grilled asparagus with creamy tangerine dressing and green bean and asparagus tempura (the beans aren’t in yet, but tempura’d aspergrass sounds terrific). One party hors d’oeuvre I’ve had several times lately and have had to yank myself back from the table to keep from scarfing the lot is asparagus wrapped in phylo. Local caterers, Sisters by Chance, do it from a Paula Deen recipe and it’s crisp, light tasting, and beautifully salty with grated Parmesan cheese.
To keep it for a few days, we put asparagus in the crisper in an open-topped plastic storage bag. Others keep theirs upright in a jar of water. To do this, wash asparagus gently in cool water, cut or break off the bottom ½ inch and put them upright in the frig in a tallish plastic container with about 2 inches of water in it.
Nancy’s Asparagus Soup:
Asparagus in phylo:
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/phyllo-wrapped-asparagus-recipe/index.html
https://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Balsamic-Pear-Chicken-and-Asparagus/Detail.aspx
https://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Stir-Fried-Sesame-Asparagus/Detail.aspx
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/portobello-and-asparagus-salad-recipe/index.html
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/asparagus-quiche-recipe/index.html
https://www.foodnetwork.com/topics/asparagus/index.html
Burnt Offerings posted what sounds like a fab recipe at Whole Foods.
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