With local field-grown asparagus soon coming available, I thought the time was nigh to start a thread on favorite ways to prepare and use this delicious vegetable. There is a tiny little tamale stand in small Sunnyside, WA that sells the most exquisite fresh asparagus tamales–a few years back the New York Times wrote them up! We’ve made the 250 mile roundtrip to pick up these wonders, and we always regret not buying 10x the number.
So what’s your favorite for asparagus, and how do you cook it?
The most wonderful time of the year–my patch has started producing!
Three dishes I make every year:
And this one has never made it online that I can find, but it could not be more simple: toss asparagus cooked in your favorite manner with vinaigrette of your choosing, plus mint, black olives, and feta cheese with couscous.
local asparagus is still a couple months out for me in new england, but when it’s that fresh, for me the simpler prep the better. a quick blanch in well-salted water, then sprinkle with grated parm and a hit of lemon and run under the broiler to brown the cheese.
Socal here had some nice ones last weekend. Simply steamed a little butter salt and lemon after. Been using the steamer a lot. Quick ez little cleanup. Spinach comes out great too similar prep just 3-4 minutes. I like your idea about parm and the broiler, have to give that a shot!
Sauce gribiche or hollandaise for classic french approaches. Stir fried with chicken in a light garlic/broth sauce. Shaved, raw and dressed with lemon and evoo or brown butter. Sauteed with shrimp and garlic. So easy and so tasty!
I haven’t made it at home, but I like a Burmese shrimp and asparagus dish served at a Burmese restaurant in Saskatoon.
I had the most amazing Bavarian asparagus with Hollandaise at Spatenhaus an der Oper i Munich.
Wye Valley asparagus in the UK in May- I remember having some at the mezzanine café inside Fortnum & Mason.
I’m also remembering a tri tip and local asparagus sandwich at the Michael David Farm Café in Lodi 7 or 8 years ago.
I won’t have local Ontario or Quebec asparagus available until May. I start buying asparagus when I see the Delta or other California asparagus available in the stores here in Canada.
I have nothing outrageously interesting to offer as a prep… I’m a basic bitch when it comes to white asparagus: steamed until tender but still springy, drowned in parsley butter (I wish I were kidding) or with a side of Hollandaise or Béarnaise), side of steamed new potatoes that are also bathing in parsley butter, and some nice Schinkenspeck or other smoked ham on the side.
I also like a good Spargelsuppe, or steamed Spargel with sauce gribiche. I had an incredible green asparagus soufflé outside of Lucca in 2018 that was topped with a pecorino sauce. Yow-ZAH!
Back in the homeland in May. Looking forward to lots n lots of Spargel
The new season asparagus has just started appearing in the shops here in England. I made an asparagus, pea and goats cheeses risotto with some last week.
My favourite way though is to keep it simple. Simply boiled, with a toasted muffin with Parma or Serrano ham and a poached egg.
We grow it, although our patch is small. We are just starting to get the first spears this year. We love it simply grilled or roasted. As an ingredient, our favorite preparations include:
I made this gozleme with asparagus in place of the brocolini. It was delicious.
Taking a technique from the Smitten Kitchen galette, I salted the asparagus and let it sit for half an hour.
FYI, I think the dry Marsala makes the dish; I wouldn’t replace it with white wine. The slightly smoky flavor takes the gozlemes from good to great.
On the blogger, Patricia’s, advice, I’ve been replacing half of the all purpose flour with whole wheat flour. It not only adds a nice nutty flavor; it makes the gozlemes brown more. I like to say that in our household we’re fans of the Maillard reaction.
I recall as a little farm kid one year my mom spotted a patch of wild asparagus growing in the gravel road ditch next to the fence line of one of our fields. She’d look and talk about it every time she drove past it about how she would give it a few more days. Then one day they disappeared. Apparently one of the neighbors had their eye on it too. Lol. Mom was so disappointed.
One of my essential Easter dishes is asparagus mimosa. I also love oven roasted asparagus with olive oil, salt & pepper then dusted with parmesan and a bit of lemon juice. A simple stir-fry from Irene Kuo’s The Key to Chinese Cooking is also a favorite in our house.
