Asparagus Recipes

[eatWashington]

No. Doubt it's a matter of terroir or that blessed plot, that earth, that realm vs. this.

Cf. what's been written in the W Post and said in topic on Mid Spring in this forum, though I have to say that I've consumed at least 4-5 bundles of purple asparagus, and fat, thin and in-between green asparagus w purple tips over the course of this year's season, coming from PA, VA & MD. All very flavorful, interacting with all relevant bodily systems in usual fashion. Course I've been fixated on roasting and sautéing my stalks in olive oil and the fat of salt-cured pork which intensifies what might otherwise prove subtle especially if hay fever's involved.

I was just going to serve a clarified butter and lemon juice sauce. But discovered I'd run out of lemons. So I squeezed (into cooled butter so it didn't spit itself into oblivion) orange juice instead. Delicious! Like a Sauce Maltaise without the fuss...

[redline]

So for the past month I've been gorging on delicious, local, seasonal asparagus. Largely broiled or sauteed, but of late I've gotten a little bored of the old standbys and wanted to branch out. I tried an asparagus soup (essentially just a potato/onion soup base with asparagus, blended and creamed) which was tasty but still a bit uninspired, so was looking for a better option. I found quail eggs at the Dupont market (for $4 a dozen) and though I'd give them a try. A quick google turned up a recipe over at epicurious for Asparagus Salad with Celery Leaves, Quail eggs and a Tarragon Vinaigrette. Now I didn't have any tarragon vinegar, nor celery leaves, but we adjusted with some nutty lettuce from my CSA and mesclun from the market, skipped the tarragon entirely for some sorrel and rosemary from the garden, and used olive oil instead of safflower/grapeseed. Now the olive oil was just a touch overpowering but given the lack of tarragon it ended up complementing everything well, and the quail eggs were the perfect match-you could certainly sub in chicken eggs, but the creamy yolks of the quail eggs were so much tastier in here! The steamed asparagus matched up with all the flavors perfectly, and was something completely different than what I've been using asparagus for of late. Paired with some sage-crusted pork chops on the grill, this made a great little meal!

So I've rambled on for a bit too long now, but just thought I'd share a different idea of how to use seasonal asparagus because if you're anything like me, you still want to eat it every day it's in season, but want just a little variety in preparation!

[legant]

I'm in the same boat: I need a bit of variety in my asparagus repertoire. My cooking method of choice is roasting; my dish of choice is Pasta with Asparagus, Roasted Shallots and Blue Cheese.

[Flavortown]

Asparagus + goat cheese = match made in heaven.

In an omelet, with pasta, etc. etc. Bring mushrooms and shallots/onions into the mix, and it only gets better.

Thomas Keller also suggests a cool technique for working with asparagus in Ad Hoc at Home: trimming them, then running them a bunch at a time over a mandolin so that they're sliced into thin coins. Cook them in a small amount of water (he uses parsley water, but that's a pain to prep) so as to preserve their flavor, or integrate them into other dishes (vegetable stews, and so on).

[MC Horoscope]

In her book with the blue cover Lidia Bastianich has a recipe for a "slow-cooked" sauce with asparagus, peas, and scallions which you can incorporate in risotto. Not sure why it's called "slow-cooked" since it really does not take very long. Great for spring. Maybe next year.

[MBK]

Risotto - cut asparagus into one-inch pieces, blanch. Puree the stems (with some cooking liquid if needed), reserve the tips. Add stem puree to risotto during cooking. Toss in tips at end. (I've done an asparagus-ramp risotto and also an asparagus-mushroom risotto).

Pan saute in butter. Serve atop a smear of a compound butter of miso, butter, and sherry vinegar. (I've done this as is, and also with cubed sweet potato, and tossed with cilantro at the end)

[giant shrimp]

Risotto - cut asparagus into one-inch pieces, blanch. Puree the stems (with some cooking liquid if needed), reserve the tips. Add stem puree to risotto during cooking. Toss in tips at end. (I've done an asparagus-ramp risotto and also an asparagus-mushroom risotto).

you can also cook the vegetables directly in the rice, tossing them in several minutes before the rice is finished cooking. this interrupts the flow of adding stock to the rice a bit, because there is some liquid initially added by the vegetables, but the consistency of the rice gets back to where it should be fairly quickly.

i guess this is the easy and obvious way of making risotto. alice waters suggests cutting the asparagus on an angle into quarter-inch pieces.

(i like making purees, and use a blender and have gradually learned how to do this without having the hot contents erupt -- in my face and all over the kitchen. but i like the soft crunch of the whole asparagus pieces.)

[MBK]

you can also cook the vegetables directly in the rice, tossing them in several minutes before the rice is finished cooking. this interrupts the flow of adding stock to the rice a bit, because there is some liquid initially added by the vegetables, but the consistency of the rice gets back to where it should be fairly quickly.

i guess this is the easy and obvious way of making risotto. alice waters suggests cutting the asparagus on an angle into quarter-inch pieces.

(i like making purees, and use a blender and have gradually learned how to do this without having the hot contents erupt -- in my face and all over the kitchen. but i like the soft crunch of the whole asparagus pieces.)

Yeah, I aim for the best of both worlds by pureeing the stems and adding the tips whole toward the end. But your way works too

[goldenticket]

This season I've mostly been enjoying grilled asparagus - spears tossed with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper and thrown on the grill until tender. Did the same thing under the broiler in my stove the other night, with results just as tasty as the grill.

Risotto was also the first thing that came to mind. Attaching a recipe for Chicken and Asparagus Risotto that I like a lot.

CHICKEN AND ASPARAGUS RISOTTO.pdf

[Banco]

With Hollandaise or Aurore, picked up with your fingers and shoved into your mouth porn style. I know it's trite, but there's no better way to eat it.

[leleboo]

and shoved into your mouth porn style.

Asparagus porn?

[legant]

Just added some spinach to Madhur Jaffrey's Israeli Couscous with Asparagus and Mushrooms. It turned out much better than I had expected. This is a keeper.

[still got another pound of asparagus. Keep the recipes coming!]

[Pat]

[still got another pound of asparagus. Keep the recipes coming!]

I just saved this recipe from the NY Times to try.

[JPW]

With Hollandaise or Aurore, picked up with your fingers and shoved into your mouth porn style. I know it's trite, but there's no better way to eat it.

According to my very proper Southern MiL, asparagus qualifies as a finger food.

[Banco]

According to my very proper Southern MiL, asparagus qualifies as a finger food.

And she is quite right!

[Sthitch]

Last week I saw on the new Gilt Taste site an article about “cured” asparagus. The author recommended sprinkling the asparagus with a 50/50 mix of sugar and salt and letting them cure for 15 minutes. I figured I would give it a try, however, my cooking method was a bit different. First I started with thick asparagus from the market, and peeled each of them. I tossed the stalks in a cook amount of the sugar/salt mixture to ensure decent coating, after about 15 minutes there was a nice amount of juice in the casserole that I was using to cure the stalks. I did not daintily wipe off each stalk, but instead rinsed them, then placed on a sheet pan, added a drizzle of olive oil and roasted at 350 for about 15 minutes.

Not drying them before putting them in the oven allowed them to gently steam, and the flavor was concentrated but with a nice hint of sweetness, a definite hit amongst the crowd I was cooking for. I am curious to see how well this works without peeling the stalks before curing.

[monavano]

One of my favorite ways to prep asparagus is to simply oven roast with evoo, s&p, parm or pec.

[Anna Blume]

I have no idea why there's a reference to hay fever in something I wrote about asparagus that appears as a quote at the beginning of this topic.

In any respect, Mark Bittman recently gathered a bunch of his own asparagus recipes from the Food Section of the NYT to present in what he's calling a flow-chart.

He recalls over-indulging and its consequences, that is, a lack of enthusiasm for the vegetable the following year. 2011 seems to be a year to yawn. Despite impatience for edible signs of spring, I turned my back to the beautiful bundles at the market for yet another weekend in a row and picked up sorrel, butter lettuce and Tuscan kale which is supposed to improve after the frost, but is perfectly wonderful young, tender and slivered into slaw to mix with cold, roasted chicken.

The one thing I truly enjoyed making with asparagus this year is Zuni Café's Asparagus Soup w Pancetta and Rice. Saved lots of asparagus ends in freezer to simmer in a new, homemade stock for about 25 minutes, then strain, before putting the rest of the soup together. Green garlic and spring onions. North Mountain Pasture's tesa which comes in thin strips and is flavored w spices one doesn't find in pancetta or guanciale. Cooks up sort of like a cross between a cured and fresh pork: dullish brown in the very meaty strips in between silky fat and is very, very good. As is the soup sprinkled with aged Parmesan and lots of freshly grated black pepper.

[Pat]

I was impressed by how well this asparagus tart turned out. I arranged all of my asparagus spears facing the same way (as opposed to the photo with the recipe), and with the 3/4" - 1" border, it came out of the oven looking like a 3D framed portrait of asparagus. Gorgeous. This would look great on a table for a party.

(My spears weren't all super thin. There were about 18 total.)