Most people I know way undercook asparagus. Serving it crisp like string beans gives it a bitter and unpleasant taste. Cooked a bit longer asparagus has a lovely silky mouthfeel which brings out its true flavour. Serve it with dipping sauce of sour cream and balsamic vinegar. Heaven.
Yes, asparagus is good, and yes, it has a limited growing season. But the true God among Vegetables is ramps (wild leeks.) Slow growing, difficult to cultivate, and a season of about 5 weeks...and so delicious, even sautéed with just olive oil and salt.
I usually dress grilled or steamed asparagus with a light olive oil, lemon juice and a sprinkle of salt. Sometimes I like to poach an egg, then dip the spears in the yolk. For Easter, I sprinkle chopped hard boiled eggs on the asparagus.
I don't think I will ever eat mashed potatoes with my asparagus.
I planted a hundred asparagus when I moved to this house in Maine. I love them every way...but I love them raw best.
why on earth does any vegetable need a recipe? just drizzle some salt and olive oil and roast in a hot oven till bright green.
5
Folks decry the wimpy character of the spindly asparagus but they actually make for a tastier, more intense soup albeit with less body than larger ones. They are are heaven sauteed in scrambled eggs. I grew up eating larger ones blanched briefly, then shocked in ice water with roasted sesame mayo like a kid eats french fries and ketchup. Mr. Ottolenghi's mashed potato/almond variation is a marvelously elegant cousin of the ketchup and fries style of my youth.
1
What, may I ask, is wrong with a simple drizzling of olive oil and a bit of balsamic vinegar?
And a wee bit of sea salt.
Me hungry...
3
When my mother was alive one of the other women at her assisted iiving called it asparagrass. That's about right!
Excellent timing -- the farmers markets have had asparagus for several weeks now. We're over the first flush of hurray! and ready to take in some other flavors.
2
As a child of the 50's and 60"s, I was fortunate to live four doors from my grandmother and aunts and uncles who tended a large garden. The first vegetable of the season was the asparagus - such a strange creature - popping up overnight in a helter-skelter manner. No straight rows for these babies!
How did my mom prepare them? Trim the ends, steam till tender, and then the piece de resistance - crushed Saltines in melted butter, sprinkled over the top. Pure Nirvana!
,
2
This would never occur to me, but now I'll have to try it.
I like to just steam it lightly and toss it with EVOL and balsamic vinegar (or white or red wine vinegar, depending on the other courses) and the fresh chopped (or dried herbs) that again complement the other courses ....
My secretary called me to the front one afternoon and said, "You've got flowers." I opened the box of long stemmed roses tied elegantly with a red ribbon and the box was festooned with tons of baby's breath. Digging through the baby's breath: 3 dozen asparagus. Not a rose in sight. I laughed for an hour. My then (and eventual husband) boyfriend paid the florist to deliver them as a Friday surprise because he knew I loved them. The asparagus went right into a vase with the baby's breath.
3
what a waste of food!
April is the cruelest month . . 14 degrees this morning, snow emergency expected Sunday and you tease me with asparagus?
11
It it is quite polite to eat asparagus with the fingers. The reason being that the stringy part is unpleasant to eat. Bite off the tip then pull the stalk through your teeth, much the way you would eat an artichoke leaf.
I prefer to peel the fat stalks so I can eat the whole thing. I still like to eat them with my fingers.
1
Steamed? Meh.
Raw, roasted, sauteed? Yeah, sure, very nice.
But grilled? YAS QUEEN!
3
I read the ingredients list and immediately thought..."Is this contagious? It sounds like that guy from that English paper." And sure enough, there is Ottolenghi.
Doing this to asparagus is like playing a Sousa March over a Mozart Sonata. When will people learn that great cooking--in the words of Curnonsky--"is when things taste of what they are". Of what they are! As in, Asparagus, one of the most sublime and subtle flavors in all of nature.( I particularly like the 'simple' version, only capers. You know, just ruin it a little bit.)
Save your 'creativity' for your knitting, this maddening compulsion to 'improve' nature is turning cooking into a freak show.
5
We grow asparagus and eat it almost every night while it's in season. Having a variety of recipes is necessary if one wants to avoid getting tired of it. Asparagus is wonderful steamed, roasted, grilled, with or without additional ingredients.
4
I think both of these recipes treat the asparagus gently. Certainly not masking the sublime taste.
1
I sympathize with your glut of wonderfulness, but my point was not to limit variety. You can make asparagus soups, purees, souflees, en croute, with béchamel, hollandaise, and so on. You can serve it steamed, broiled, or baked, and with a dozen different sauces. The secret is harmony.
The day I put capers or mint or dill on asparagus is the day I admit that my imagination has failed and my taste buds have left me for greener pastures.
2
Come to California. We have lots of asparagus. And.....a festival where you can get asparagus ice cream.
http://sanjoaquinasparagusfestival.net/
1
Well, for some of us, the devil of vegetables, "The digestion of asparagus produces methanethiol and S-methyl thioesters, chemical compounds containing stinky sulfur, also known as brimstone." Steve Mercy, Scientific American. Perhaps God and the Devil have more in common than generally recognized.
3
@ Michael Owen Sartin Fort Lauderdale
You are right, in the dualistic faith of the medieval Manicheans and Cathars, the Good and the Evil were derived from God Himself. All the material world is the product of the Evil.
Season just getting underway.
Sous vide asparagus vac sealed with a knob of butter delivers a perfect stem.
82C for 10/12 minutes
There is a special tool for holding asparagus stalks that was made in England in the 19th (?) and early 20th centuries. I saw once a few in the antique market in Portobello Road in London (foolishly, I did not buy them), although I did not see them in the table settings of "Downton Abbey".
The scissors-like tool has at the working end two small hollow cylinders that close around the stalk and make it unnecessary to hold it in one's fingers. Simple, elegant, and ingenious.
1
The piece you're talking about is called asparagus tongs, and they were made in the US as well: I have a set, as part of a sterling pattern I own that was manufactured in the late 19th and very early 20th centuries.
1
@ Maggie Topkis NYC
Thank you for this piece of information. Now I may look forward with a greater hope of common across asparagus tongs somewhere.
We had many hills of asparagus in he garden of the farm where I grew up. Some were "early" some "Mid" and some "late"
Our asparagus season lasted a great deal longer than eight weeks. More like 3 1/2 months.
And, of course, each hill kept producing year after year.
We had more asparagus than peas, more than green beans. more than just about anything except carrots!
And I never tired of them.
5
Doesn’t anyone just grill their asparagus? Toss the raw stalks with a little good olive oil and balsamic, then grill until just warm. And, Union Gap, a small town in Eastern Washington, is fortunate to have a Mexican restaurant that makes asparagus tamales for e few weeks in season. Worth the 3 hour drive from Seattle.
3
I have never understood why people peeled vegetables like asparagus. The vegetable must be cleaned, of course, but it is my understanding that the greatest nutritional value of such vegetables is where the skin of the vegetable meets the meat of the vegetable. Another foolish thing is boiling vegetables in water. The vitamins go down the drain with the water. Steamiing is the answer.
Surely modern chefs must know this. Why do recipes not reflect this?
4
Because most cooks are prioritizing taste, rather than relatively minute differences in vitamin content. For myself, I peel asparagus because I find it infinitely more pleasant to eat peeled asparagus than unpeeled asparagus.
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@ Cristino Xirau West Palm Beach, Fl.
I suspect that the answer to your question is how much faith people have in the nutritional value of the different parts of vegetables and how much they believe in the writing of the nutritionists. In my view, many of the latter are politically correct vegans disguised in pretend-to-be experts.
Follow yr crave for Asparagus, but Potatoes with Mint as Compagnion
is more than conflicting...........
6
I never have, nor probably ever will, get the hype.
2
Αsparagus is boring. There, I said it.
1
Unfortunately, you appear to be suffering from Asparagus syndrome. Fortunately, there is a cure: Kumquats.
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Ha, not sure kumquats are any better even if they are rarer. Seriously, I'll take new season peas and broad beans in the pod over asparagus any day. But then, I'm a southerner.
1
"asparagus is boring"
Some might say asparagus are boring.
Such people would probably find Scarlatti and Stravinsky boring as well.
Taste is very personal.
I believe that leeks rank amongst the finest vegetables. Many people never even try them.
Oh my, I do miss asparagus. I enjoyed it for many years, but along with peanut butter, Ovaltine, and dark chocolate . . . I developed kidney stones. (Oxalate) Eliminated all of the items above, and the stones turned into stardust & disappeared into the far reached of the universe.
Maybe, I could have just a few spears . . . I love the very thin spears.
2
Asparagus isn't high in oxalate, and I've never seen a statement from a reputable source that you should avoid asparagus if you're worried about kidney stones.
1
Interesting preparations. When I really crave it, I stick a bunch in a wet paper towel and throw it in the microwave for a minute or so. And eat it with nothing.
OK, sometimes with mayo or a squeeze of lemon juice.
6
A quick rest on the barbecue, touched with a little olive oil. Divine. Nothing more need be added.
5
For a simple and luxurious spring meal I like asparagus mimosa with lobster. Blanch asparagus is generously salted boiling water until crisp-tender. Drain and plate with hardcooked eggs- whites chopped and yolks grated- sliced steamed lobster meat, and a dressing of lemon juice, melted butter, extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. Snip chives over the top if you like a little allium bite. With a crisp Sardinian vermentino life is good!
8
Several decades ago, my husband and his father took a vacation to Germany. They went on a road trip with a German cousin by marriage. The week they were in Germany, the whole country was having asparagus festivals. Everywhere they went, asparagus was feted and served. They ate so much asparagus, my husband was a bit aspara-disgusted for a time after returning. It was too much of his favorite vegetable.
5
In Germany, they often serve spargel. It is a fat, white asparagus (they cover up the stalks as they grow so they dont turn green) often served with Hollandaise.
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@ Robert House El Nido CA
In Germany, white asparagus is called weisser Spargel. People like to drink with it even the sweater-tasting Rieslings of the Mosel Valley, rather than the dry Alsatian vintages.
You don't have to go to Germany for white asparagus.
We always grew a fraction of our garden crop as white asparagus..
1
We eat asparagus harvested from the backyard, from beds I planted a few years ago. The size of the spears varies from very thick to very thin. Since I love to eat them freshly harvested, I cook them in slightly boiling shallow water, thicker spears longer. Served with a squeeze of lemon and maybe a drizzle of olive oil. Superb!
6
Individual asparagus servers may be used in lieu of fingers. First saw those in Paris years ago.
All one has to do is find where they are sold!!
1
I grill asparagus with a sprinkling of EVOO, aged balsamic, cracked pepper and sea salt. Takes about 5 minutes, with some rolling to get all sides, with a little bit singed here and there for crispiness and depth. Can squeeze a little lemon juice on it at the end if desired. Can also have leftovers the next day tossed onto a salad or chopped up and added to scrambled eggs.
7
I eat asparagus year round but the best is when I harvest it from my own Asparagus beds in the spring. Planting asparagus can be hard, and the wait is long. Three years after being planted,it is ready. (After 2 years you can harvest a little). Before my current beds, I had asparagus growing near my pool,under day lilies,a relative of the plant. I got the best from there. The asparagus was fat,tender and white. Unfortunately, one of my dogs, dug up the entire bed and even ate the roots! So now the beds are fenced in. 5 of my 7 dogs love asparagus and will wait while I pick it,for the ends. They prefer raw to cooked. The nice thing about really fresh asparagus is that you can just slice it up and toss it raw into anything. I’m hoping for early May,but you never know. Last May, I harvested 7 lbs in two days,and then it rained so much It slowed down considerably.
9
Nothing shouts springtime like my favorite recipe from my ancient James "Beard on Pasta" cookbook. Very simple: Asparagus sauteed with lemon, garlic, butter, Worcestershire sauce on angel hair pasta, sprinkled with reggiano. Bliss. Period.
10
I get my asparagus from an old woman who descends from Pliny the Elder. She delivers them to me each morning, dressed in a gossamer gown the color of Cala lilies, the kind that grow only in the Alcantara, in a basket that she weaves from Levantine palm fronds. Typically I will prepare them by sautéing them lightly in Aeolian olive oil followed by a light sprinkle of fleur de sel de Marseille, but only that which is collected while the gulls caw overhead, infusing the crystals with their saturnine ecstasy.
96
Me too!! What a coincidence!
3
That's hilarious! Literature is better than real life, alas.
1
Thank you, one the best comments I’ve ever read in the Times comments section!
1
I taught my grandchildren to love vegetables because my daughter-in-law didn't like them. I especially got a kick out of their sheer joy over asparagus. All year long they would ask me when I was going to make that "green stuff" again. I would roast them with olive oil and garlic and watch them chow down. Delightful.
25
At a hotel in Frankfort Germany. my visits would sometimes coincide with asparagus season. Their menu celebrated asparagus, from fat spears of white to various preparations of the more mundane green. Since I too adore asparagus, it was pure happiness to me. Now, I grow my own (it is easy, and an investment that keeps on giving) and my family and I count the days until our first harvest. A vegetable God? Absolutely.
7
The way Ottolenghi cooks asparagus you would think he mistakes it for potatoes. Or maybe he doesnt really value it. In other parts of Europe, asparagus is valued to the point where it is served with nothing else except olive oil (Spain for example) or butter (Western Central Europe). Why ruin something with condiments when it is so exceptional?
19
I agree that it stands well alone, and I often prepare it that way at home. But to say it’s cooked a certain way all over Europe is a stretch. I spend a lot of time in France eating in great restaurants and have never been served it the way you describe. I can’t wait to try this recipe...Ottolenghi is a master at bringing out the best in ingredients, enhancing their flavours and textures.
9
And there is Asparagus Risotto, Cream of Asparagus Soup, Asparagus Omelette, Asparagus Wrapped in Prosciutto, Salmon with Asparagus and Morels...
1
Green asparagus also works well in a risotto or simple pasta dish...
14
The french eat white asparagus with their hands. I tried it at a chic hotel near Cannes. Sublime. Delicious.
5
@ g.i. La.
I am shocked that the French would eat anything with their hands. They even use a fork and knife on hamburgers. As to myself, I use cutlery on everything cooked, including bird legs and wings.
Yes, eating asparagus with your fingers is a mark of sophistication in both France and Italy.
Cutting it into fork-sized bites is infra dig.
1
Love it. Thanks Otto. A retired Marine officer had an asparagus bed, and introduced us to asparagus, which he would present with a flourish as in a bouquet. And his Belgian born born wife served it in exquisite simplicity, just with a squeeze of lemon, chopped boiled egg, served on a leaf of endive as a first course. I added candied violets on the side. It made a pretty plate. Food needs to be a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach and not gobbled in haste!
12
Belgians understand vegetables very well.
My mother liked her garden and my father hated spending money he didn't have to. As a result we had asparagus, corn and tomatoes every night for dinner all summer long. Surprisingly, I still like those vegetables.
19
Kathy - nothing beats the flavor and taste of home grown veggies. Your parents sound a lot like mine - practical, financially responsible, and probably enjoyed putzing around in the garden on a cool summer morning or evening. Perhaps your continued like for those veggies goes hand in glove with some wonderful memories you had when you were younger. Just a thought.
2
White asparagus tops green any day of the week in our house. It must be peeled and prepared with ingredients/ accompaniments that do not challenge its delicateness - but, yum! A fresh Hollandaise, a beurre blanc and tiny new potatoes, a small strip of prosciutto or a small veal steak in lemon creme. Aaaaaah!
2
Not in mine. I've had it. No need to repeat (although I would eat it if served to me). Green is much more flavorful..
12
Even more delightful is the serendipity of wandering around one's very own acre and spying the shoots here and there, up from remnants of hidden primeval root stocks. The flavor of store-bought does not compare. Yet a sprig that is a just a few inches long today will bolt if not caught soon, so there is always the hedging one's bets between bigger asparagus tomorrow and none at all. (Yet bolted asparagus are beautiful fernlike creatures too, several feet high and wafting in the breeze.)
19
" will bolt if not caught soon" -- like later in the day, tomorrow if you're lucky.
But yes, it is wonderful to go out into my garden and pick asparagus for dinner -- or breakfast.
10
Picking asparagus from the garden is a treat I look forward to. We eat it almost every day for several weeks and then, just as we get tired of it, the crop is done.
5
Not in San Antonio, I have to buy mine! I cook other green veggies, and serve them together. Asparagus is one of the few vegetables my hubby will eat!!!
One April, in Rheims, I was served a delightfully prepared fish accompanied by ever-so-fresh white asparagus, which can have a thicker, blunter shape and a milder and more delicate flavor. Asparagus was never the same for me. Is the sunless white version popular in England?
2
White asparagus are simply green asparagus buried in straw or mulch to block the sun. (The more tender pale celery one sees in markets is grown the same way.) No sun, thus no chlorophyll. Yet higher maintenance and thus more rare and more pricey.
10
And less taste IMHO.
1
Reply to Lowell: Also, WHY?
One reads that in England it is U to hold the asparagus stalks in the fingers and dip them into melted butter. Cutting the asparagus into pieces is distinctly Non-U.
I do not like handling cooked food with my fingers. Ordinary table knife is not sharp enough as it merely squashes the fibers. A solution? -- To carry a very sharp small dagger, under the folded handkerchief in the breast pocket, and to use it at a table when not partaking of the offered asparagus would be rude.
3
If your table knife "merely squashes the fibers," you are cooking the asparagus for much too long. You have waterlogged asparagus, a sinful waste. Steaming it for a mere 4-5 minutes yields by far the best preparation, al dente, bursting with flavor, and ready to flirt with a wide variety of sauces and dressings.
4
I must agree with Mercutio about the cooking of asparagus. For me, they should always have a nice crunch to them, very much like French green beans. If the texture resembles sweet potato mush, then I feel the asparagus experience has been lost. But in the end, to each his/her own. Some folks like crisp and others like a mushy pea texture. As my mother would say, no matter how you fix 'em, just make sure you eat plenty of vegetables every day.
1
Tuvw Xyz - for a brief moment, I thought I was reading some James Bond would do, i.e., "carry a very sharp small dagger, under the folded handkerchief in the breast pocket, and to use it at a table". Your comment seems to read so very "British". My husband loved it - probably because he is British.
2
All we can get in any of our supermarkets here in Phoenix are asparagus stalks that are skinny, emaciated and weedy. At those prices, I do not buy them. I lived in a house once where the previous owner grew asparagus and every year there were volunteer asparagus sprouting in the garden. I couldn't figure out how to cultivate it so it grew thicker before it bolted and became an asparagus fern.
3
Oh, I know. I know. My old csa used to furnish us with asparagus for a few heavenly weeks. That's all we would eat for dinner the night I picked up vegetables. Sigh. The new csa doesn't do asparagus, and I've had no luck at local farmer's markets. Sigh.
1
I prefer skinny stalks with purple heads. Lightly steamed with a tiny bit of butter, no salt. Eat with your fingers.
Of course, the baby, tender peas are the absolute best green item on the planet, but they're only around for a tiny window of time each year.
Refer to the internet, plenty of advice
2
There is something about asparagus that cries out for starch. Bread and potatoes are best. Rice and pasta are OK. In any event the pairing should be simple and accompanied by butter. Olive oil is OK, but butter is best. Hollandaise and Maltaise are good, but distract from the aparagus
Alternatively, eggs, preferably scrambled softly or poached.
6
Toasted buttered breadcrumbd
1
Lightly steam, add butter or olive oil, lemon juice, and P Regg--heaven.
17
I agree that very light steaming is best, with just a touch of butter or oil added after steamed. Much less fat content than the recipe here.
1
Thick stalks of unpeeled, green asparagus, simmered in unsalted water until just tender, served with a good peasant bread that is smeared with a lot of unsalted butter -- the asparagus needs none.
Wild salmon or shad (if it can be found) is a suitable side. Plain boiled potatoes are possible. A good Mosel completes a meal made in heaven.
23
Actually, it's high time the "just tender" tasteless asparagus era come to a close. Cook just below a boil, the water barely moving, until the bright green melts into a lovely olive green - not too long, not mushy, not overcooked, but there is a whole range of flavors that come out with a little more cooking.
14
Shouldn't it be steamed rather than submerged to preserve vitamin content?
I prefer either steamed with butter or oven prepared with eeov, sea salt, lemon and shaved parmigiano reggiano.
Matthew,
I agree with you.
I put asparagus in a small skillet with water reaching half the depth of the single asparagus spears. Quick low boil, turning the asparagus the second they turn color, and dropping the heat a little. By the time the water is evaporated or nearly so the asparagus is finished, in about two minutes. If asparagus isn't very slender, I cut the stalks as placing them in pan.
Want a little butter or olive oil? Add it as the water is nearly evaporated.it. This allows half the amount of added butter or oil. Lower fat. Top with fresh ground pepper and maybe some sliced almonds.
Perfect vegetable side dish for fish or chicken, or added to salad entrees.
1
Gently roast with a little EVO and coarse salt. Some is necessary but less is more.
21
My variation: Gently roast after generously bathing in EVOO, lots of coarse salt and pepper, and garlic cut into small cubes. Heaven!
5
Better for end of season asparagus, not the early cuttings.
4
I completely agree E! The roasting brings out their sweetness as well as adding a little crunch and snap with each bite. The whispering of EVO merely allows the coarse salt to hang onto something while these precious little spring delights gently roast in the oven.
I love to dip lightly steamed asparagus into homemade mayonnaise or aioli -- the eggs, olive oil and garlic part of your pairing.
11
Me, too, although I like to wait until the asparagus is at room temperature.
yes! homemade tarragon mayo. dipped with the fingers. if you read food etiquette books asparagus is eaten with hands even in the finest establishments.
2
Fresh Rosemary goes so well with asparagus!
1
If you're pairing young asparagus with "eggs, butter, olive oil, cheese, cream, onions, garlic, potatoes," you might as well just open a can and be done with it. Save possibly the potatoes, everything else will overpower the asparagus. Try just blanching them, briefly, and simply eating them with your fingers and as fast as you can possibly stuff them in your mouth. You'll feel better – and you'll actually know something about asparagus.
57
Yes, you'll know something about crunchy, tasteless asparagus.
1
Occasionally in the Farmers
Market in LA, in the spring,
purple asparagus is sold.
It has a subtle sweetness.
Such a marvelous treat...
look for it.
15
In Provence we’re eating it several times per week right now. It is best raw, I think, sliced in half lengthwise and I love it with something salty, like saucisson. And then if it’s roasted, it turns the most beautiful shade of green.
6