Food Friday: Cast No Aspersions

It was one endless, dreary, snowy cold winter. A lot of you probably feel like Laura Ingalls Wilder after The Long Winter; so happy to see the snow melted, thrilled to see the cherry blossoms and you are now waiting for the dogwoods to burst forth.

Spring brings fresh and tasty treats to the table, and we are happy to see them; perky and green and bursting with crunchy, chewy goodness. All that snow was good for the asparagus – the melted water soaked the dirt slowly and steadily, resulting in the asparagus feast you will be enjoying for the next few weeks, along with all the new peas, radishes and heaps o’ramps.

A Compendium of Asparagus Recipes:

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/02/dining/stir-fried-spicy-asparagus-recipe.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/08/dining/skillet-baked-eggs-and-asparagus-recipe.html

https://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2011/06/03/dining/20110608-asparagus-recipe.html?ref=dining

https://food52.com/blog/10210-risi-e-bisi-italian-rice-and-peas-asparagus-with-shallots-and-chiles

https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/tuna-asparagus-and-new-potato-salad-with-chive-vinaigrette-and-fried-capers

We have a heated debate in our house about asparagus: fat or thin? I tend to push for fat (but then for a while all I knew about asparagus I learned from Martha, thus I was probably drinking the Kool-Aid…), while Best Beloved yearns for pencil skinny. Mark Bittman, who is wise in the wily ways of asparagus, finds positively for both schools of thought: https://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/17/dining/17mini.html

This is how we usually prepare asparagus, and coming from two childhoods where the asparagus was boiled to death, this is a good advancement for mankind:

Broiled Asparagus

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 pounds asparagus
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/8 teaspoon salt
Pepper
Squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Heat the broiler. In a large bowl, toss the asparagus with olive oil, salt, and a pinch of pepper until well and truly coated. Place them on a wire rack, which you put on a baking sheet, with a sheet of aluminum foil or parchment paper underneath (to minimize clean up time). Spread in a single tidy layer. Add a squeeze of lemon juice
Broil, turning occasionally, until tender, 5 – 8 minutes. Serve immediately!

I have read recently that it makes for more tender asparagus if you blanch them in boiling water for about a minute before starting the broiling process. I guess that depends on how many pans you want to clean up after dinner.
We also wrap asparagus in aluminum foil and toss it on the grill, along with the corn and hamburgers. No pans! Genius!

One sneaky way to introduce a touch of asparagus is to shave a bit of it into a salad. Some of our fussy eaters have never realized that they were getting an extra vegetable that way. Though they still complain loudly about the days when I used spinach for lettuce in tacos. And these are the people who never had white bread until they went to elementary school and observed other peoples’ lunches! Subterfuge is a parent’s best friend.

“Pray how does your asparagus perform?”
John Adams, in a letter to his wife Abigail

“Let there be seasons so that our tongues will be rich in asparagus and limes.”
-Anne Sexton

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