First Asparagus
I was making a special meal for my mom on Sunday and went out to look for asparagus. I went to three stores looking for local asparagus and came up short – disappointingly everything I found was of the mushy topped, limp stalked, imported variety, and so I resorted to frozen peas.
Yesterday I received a big bag of groceries from Metro grocery store showcasing their summer grocery items. As I dug through I immediately stopped at the bunch of asparagus to read the label and low and behold, it was a product of Canada! I must have been slightly premature in my hunt because it looks like asparagus has arrived.
I love to steam big batches of asparagus when they are in season and keep it in the fridge. I snack on them straight up as spears, have them ready to go as a side dish or quite often cut up into my salad for lunch at the office with a few anchovies and grape tomatoes, maybe a boiled egg or a few new potatoes if I have them cooked, a little olive oil and squeeze of lemon – delicious!
If I’ve just picked them up fresh from the grocery store for dinner, grilling or roasting is the way to go. Again I always make extra because I love them cold or cut up in a quick frittata. My father loves to forage for wild asparagus and gets the really thin ones that are perfect to toss with linguine and pecorino cheese for a spring time pasta. My mom pickles these thin wiry asparagus every year, packing them into tiny jar to savour all year round.
Is your local asparagus up yet?
Here’s more information on delicious asparagus:
Cooking Cleaning and Storing
How to Grill Asparagus
How to Roast Asparagus
How to Pickle Asparagus (Not my mothers recipe, but still good!)
Asparagus Frittata
Mmmmmm… asparagus! We’ve been getting local asparagus for about a month now (we live in NC) – and truly they are soooo delicious. Roasted and grilled are my favourite. I like the idea of having cold ones ins the fridge to snack on. Think I’ll go and try that with the few I have left over in my fridge. I’m new to Foodie-file and am enjoying it. Thank you.
I found Ontario asparagus on Monday and felt that summer had arrived. I grilled it on the bbq with a bit of Italian dressing. Many years ago I had a job picking asparagus. The owners taught me to enjoy asparagus by serving it with cheez whiz on toast!
I am somewhat surprised that you didn’t mention eating it raw in salads. Am I the only one who does that? I haven’t seem any local spears in Alberta yet.
Can you give a brief overview about cooking asparagus? I always tend to overcook, and the result is a mushy mess. Either that, or the stalks end up stringy. I would love to cook them to the tender-crisp state, but I’ve had no luck with that! Any suggestions??
It took two disasters in the kitchen before I learned how to get perfect steamed asparagus (sorry not tips, just check often by biting into an end), and since then we are a house of asparagus lovers. Simply steamed as a side, lightly steamed and then tossed with pasta, added to risotto, grilled with garlic and lemon…Yummy. Local asparagus should be arriving in stores here any day now!
I have only recently joined your blog and have to tell you that I am enjoying it very much. You have answered a several questions that I have wondered about. The flour issue was one that I wondered about. I love asparagus but my family not so much. They have given roasted asparagus a thumbs up when it is BBQ’ed so will be doing it that way as much as I can when Alberta starts to get the locally produced in the stores or farmers markets.
Keep up the great work!
Ingrid,
Click on the cooking cleaning and storing link for more detailed info, but to cook just bring a pot of water to a boil, put asparagus in the pot and cook for two or three minutes depending on how thick the asparagus is – you will see it turn bright green. Take it out of the pot and eat right away or if you want to store it drop it into cold water and cool it down quickly to stop the cooking.
Or you can steam for about the same amount of time, or place in a covered casserole in the microwave with about an inch of water and nuke for a few minutes moving them around once so they cook evenly.
Barb, yes I like raw as well if they are very fresh and thin – but I almost always prefer green veggies cooked.
Yes, I noticed the store asparagus was sad looking too. Funny how your tastebuds know it is time for the good stuff. It is like a homing device seeking crispy goodness. I like to lightly steam asparagus spears in a fry pan in a bit of water and butter mixture for about 5-8 minutes, basically once it boils I put the lid on and remove it from the heat and allow it to slow cook through. Slurp!
Thanks Christine!
Can’t wait to try your tips, and I’m looking forward to our local asparagus. I’m actually thinking of planting it in the garden this year!