Food Friday: Heaps of Asparagus

Spring is such a busy time of year.

Birds to watch: (don’t forget to clean out your hummingbird feeders and fill them up with fresh homemade nectar: 1 part sugar to 4 parts water. Boil the water, add the sugar, dissolve sugar, cool, pour. Easy peasy and super cheap – do NOT add any red food coloring as you will kill our little harbingers of joy. https://nationalzoo.si.edu/migratory-birds/hummingbird-nectar-recipe).

Gardens to mulch: I am using newspapers and mulch this year. No more black fabric. And I have very presentable hydrangea beds, and the roses are happy again. It is such a great concept – supporting our local (and national) scribes, and recycling, without contributing to landfill. I haven’t gone too radical because I have topped the newspaper with garden center-mulch, but you can skip that step if you don’t mind looking at the newspaper. I want to control the weeds without using Round Up, and I am just a wee bit proud of the hydrangeas this year, so I am adding the mulch. https://www.bbg.org/news/using_newspaper_as_mulch

Gardens to plant: We are simplifying this year; tomatoes and hollyhocks in the raised bed, basil, garlic and petunias in the back porch container garden, roses in the side garden, with some daisies for contrast, hydrangeas and yellow day lilies around the back, and day lilies and daisies in front of the spent azaleas in front. Last year we went to town with the raised bed, and learned our lesson about over-planting. Two people do not need eight tomato plants, a dozen bean plants and half a dozen pepper plants. The beans, while they made a great art installation, produced exactly two bean pods. We had the Hanging Gardens of Nebuchadnezzar in our side yard. I am sure the neighbors were highly amused.

Mass quantities of farm-fresh spring fruits and vegetables to gobble up: The farmers’ market has been a delight! Have you seen the heaps of asparagus? Holy smokes. We need to have a spargelfest like they do in Germany. https://www.tripsavvy.com/spargel-festivals-in-germany-1519702 It sounds more crowded than visiting tulips in Holland, or even the ever-popular Oktoberfest.

Sadly, I have just learned that apparently we have been cooking asparagus the wrong way. One of my kitchen gods, Vivian Howard, has taken to posting video cooking tips on her Instagram feed on Tuesdays. And she just said that our tried and true way of roasting asparagus on a cookie sheet is bad! Look her up yourself, https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/18029276176187339/ or put up with the annoying ads from the Southern Living website: https://www.southernliving.com/kitchen-assistant/vivian-howard-instagram-tips-asparagus

It makes me sad that we have been committing crimes against nature, but it has always tasted wonderful, and we learned how from a friend who worked at Bon Appétit Magazine. I guess the times they are changing, and we had best move with them. Otherwise, it’s back to 8-tracks and cassettes. https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/roasted-asparagus-recipe-1916355

Ways to consume your fair share of asparagus: roasted (if you want to feel Vivian Howard’s deep and shaming disappointment in you), stir-fried, butter braised, blanched, boiled, raw, shaved, in pesto, in a frittata, as part of an antipasto, baked, pickled, puréed, grilled, fried in tempura batter, or in a salad. That should keep you busy for a while.

Here is one of my all-time favorites, from Nancy Taylor Robson – from our early days at The Chestertown Spy: https://food52.com/recipes/4034-springtime-asparagus-by-nancy-taylor-robson

The Kentucky Derby is tomorrow. I hope you have your hats ready, julep cups polished and your mint picked. After you have boiled up the humming bird nectar, you can make some simple syrup for your own nectar – Mint Juleps: https://food52.com/recipes/27858-mint-julep

“Marriage? It’s like asparagus eaten with vinaigrette or hollandaise, a matter of taste but of no importance.”
-Francoise Sagan