Favorite asparagus recipe?

Somehow, this idea came unbidden into my subconscious that I must start a thread on favorite asparagus recipes. The idea just surfaced into my conscious state, so here we go:

Tossed in EVOO and roasted. Parmigiano and salt added when they come out of the oven.

Cooked on the grill, served with a simple vinaigrette.

Certainly the method we use most in season is simply grilled (sometimes with vinaigrette, other times not).

I really enjoy David Chang's asparagus with miso butter and an egg.

If you can score fresh peas and asparagus together, that's the start of a great risotto.

[Robin Garr]

Simply grilled is good, but an asparagus risotto is also hard to beat. Particularly if you parboil the asparagus first in lightly salted water, then use that water to enrich the broth used to make the risotto. Keeping it simple usually works best for me; sweat but don't brown the onions and garlic at the beginning. Finish with a little butter and Parmigiano or Grana Padano.

In the other thread I mention steamed asparagus with poached egg on top.

Asparagus risotto, however, is tops. I use the tips only and much Grana Padano!

Asparagus tossed with pasta in butter works too.

We like it steamed until tender (not very long), and napped with Hollandaise.

Somehow, this idea came unbidden into my subconscious that I must start a thread on favorite asparagus recipes. The idea just surfaced into my conscious state....

Funny how the most brilliant of insights strike us from seemingly nowhere sometimes, and startle us with how atypically brilliant (for the person struck) they are. Bravo!

My favorite asparagus recipe? Tie:

1. Vietnamese Crab and Asparagus Soup.

2. The classic German treatment of white asparagus, where you first make a stock of the peelings and end trimmings, combined with sugar, salt and a hunk of crusty bread. The stalks plus a lump of butter are simmered in that until tender, and served plain. I try to steer clear of the over used word "sublime" when describing recipes, but this is sublime.

And both go well with riesling

Marinate in EVOO and red pepper flakes and grill on hot grille. Serve as is or with a mustard vinaigrette, hot or cold..

Sigh, a long time to asparagus time for me.
however, lightly steamed with a vinaigrette made with say hazelnut oil, and raspberry vinegar and sprinkled with
roughly chopped toasted hazelnuts. or or a stronger dressing and shaved parmesan. or butter and shaved parmesan or or or
Or if I have just picked it up from the farm secretly munched raw on the way home. Sigh

[Jenise]

Though I love hot asparagus, whether lightly cooked in butter or coated with EVOO and grilled, I only realized in trying to answer your question that 90% of the asparagus we eat is in a cold or room temperature salad. The most frequent way for green asparagus is quickly boiled, drained, and then dressed with lemon juice, EVOO and parmesan, so that's probably our favorite by default. Second most frequent would be a pile on a plate with a thick cold dressing made of mayo, oil, vinegar, tarragon and finely diced fresh red bell pepper spooned over the middle. Very pretty, very wonderful. Sometimes it becomes a fancier appetizer course with a topping of a shrimp or crab salad. And if I can get white? Always served cold, usually with shrimp/vinaigrette but sometimes cut into two inch lengths and combined with batonettes of bamboo and chopped cilantro in a chili oil vinaigrette. It's a great do-ahead dish for an Asian-themed meal.

Tom, your method with white asparagus is very interesting. What does the hunk of bread in the cooking liquid do? Does it dissolve? Would think it would become too thick.

Tom, your method with white asparagus is very interesting. What does the hunk of bread in the cooking liquid do? Does it dissolve? Would think it would become too thick.

You know, I've never really found a satisfactory answer to that first question. I originally saw this, I believe, in my 1970's "Time Life 'Foods of the World'" book on German cuisine. Since then I've seen it repeated several times in other publications (and websites) but with no further comment other than "do it". And, of course, I'm too cheap/lazy to do a side by side comparison to determine if it's just a worthless canard. (To be fair, I've made white asparagus this way without having bread, and it was fine. So....)

A good, dense hunk of homemade or artisan bread that's several days past its prime does not seem to suffer structurally from a soaking like this. Some crumbs once in a while, but unless it's from a very fresh and soft loaf, I've never had a problem with massive gooping or anything. And it's easy enough to rinse off the stalks regardless, should that happen.

Well, I've cleared the asparagus patch of last year's winter-protecting stalks, composted it, dumped a layer of oat straw on it, and figured we'd have some asparagus by early May. All was going so well--even got the lawn mower started for the season.

Snow today; projected snow tomorrow; and more snow possible Saturday.

On top of that, the heating furnace decided to take an early summer vacation. Luckily, I've got wood and a good stove, but asparagus: haven't any of that.

I like Asparagus in many different ways. And I loved the white asparagus I had in Germany -- I think it was simply boiled (possibly steamed but my distant German cousin may not have had a steamer).

BUT -- while I wasn't going to reply to this -- one memorable thing I have done with asparagus is to make a kind of lasagna with goat cheese and lemon zest and a little lemon juice.

Making lasagna is kind of a lot of work and recently I have done a simpler recipe -- boil up some pasta (last night I used bow tie pasta but the recipe online called for rotelle or rotini). In the last minute or 2 add some cut up asparagus.

Separately in a bowl chop up some fresh tarragon, add some olive oil, and break up a good bit of high quality goat cheese. Also add the zest of one complete lemon and some lemon juice.

Stir the hot pasta and lightly cooked asparagus bits into the goat cheese mixture and stir until the goat cheese melts into a sauce and coats the pasta.

The flavors of goat cheese, lemon, and tarragon complement the asparagus and you have a nice summery warm pasta salad.

It's easy to Google the ingredients and find more specific recipes.

I'll probably be taking a bowl of this stuff to our film club on Friday.

[Jenise]

The Union Square Café cookbook, if anyone has it, contains a recipe for pasta and asparagus with a red bell pepper sauce. With a good Sancerre? To die for.

[Robin Garr]

The Union Square Café cookbook, if anyone has it, contains a recipe for pasta and asparagus with a red bell pepper sauce. With a good Sancerre? To die for.

Veggie puree, or a cream sauce? Long or short pasta? Just a little more info, and we've got enough to work with.

Somehow, this idea came unbidden into my subconscious that I must start a thread on favorite asparagus recipes. The idea just surfaced into my conscious state, so here we go:

Tossed in EVOO and roasted. Parmigiano and salt added when they come out of the oven.

Add a few little squiggles of lemon skin on top---but not too many---and I believe you have reached perfection.

[Jenise]

The Union Square Café cookbook, if anyone has it, contains a recipe for pasta and asparagus with a red bell pepper sauce. With a good Sancerre? To die for.

Veggie puree, or a cream sauce? Long or short pasta? Just a little more info, and we've got enough to work with.

Butter and parm, no cream. Penne is the best shape. Here's the recipe (serves 4 to 6).

4 T butter, divided
1 lb med asparagus (peeled, tough ends snapped, cut into 2" lengths)
4 red, yellow or orange bell peppers, charred/peeled/sliced
1 tsp minced garlic
1.5 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 T kosher salt
3/4 penne
1.5 tsp fresh minced thyme
2/3 c grated parm
Ground black pepper

Melt 2 T of the butter, add asparagus, stir and cook until just tender, about five minutes. Stir in the peppers and garlic, toss to heat through, about one minute. Add the stock, bring to a boil, and set aside.

Cook penne in salted water to just before al dente, drain.

Return the asparagus/pepper skillet to med heat and add the penne and fresh thyme. Stir to combine and simmer 5 to 7 minutes until the pasta reaches al dente and has absorbed some of the sauce. Stir in half the parm, remaining butter, pepper and salt to taste. Ganish with remaining parm.

DO DIE FOR. Really.

[Robin Garr]

Here's the recipe

Thanks, Jenise! I'll be trying this soon ...

Butter and parm, no cream. Penne is the best shape. Here's the recipe (serves 4 to 6).

Looks like it I might like this one, now that I know what you mean by "ganish with remaining parm".

Incidentally, just a quirk of mine, but I hate it when words are abbreviated for no apparent reason, and with no period.

[Jenise]

Thomas, all I can say is, abbreviations are extremely useful to someone like me who has to limit the amount of time I spend sitting conventionally in a chair. Anything longer than about five minutes is stolen time. But that aside, I thought 'parm' was pretty universal.

Incidentally, just a quirk of mine, but I hate it when words are abbreviated for no apparent reason, and with no period.

Don't worry, Jenise, got you covered here.

Here ya go, Thomas, what you're missing: Denominazione di Origine Protetta ____igiano-Reggiano

Incidentally, just a quirk of mine, but I hate it when words are abbreviated for no apparent reason, and with no period.

Don't worry, Jenise, got you covered here.

Here ya go, Thomas, what you're missing: Denominazione di Origine Protetta ____igiano-Reggiano

Now you're talkin'.

Thomas, all I can say is, abbreviations are extremely useful to someone like me who has to limit the amount of time I spend sitting conventionally in a chair. Anything longer than about five minutes is stolen time. But that aside, I thought 'parm' was pretty universal.

Ah yes, forgot about your recent ordeal.

I never said I didn't know what parm meant (I did have trouble with "ganish with remaining parm" I thought that might have been Gaelic mixed with English). It's just me: I don't like abbreviations much. Used to drive me crazy in the Air Force, where abbreviations and "in-words and phrases" created a separate language.

Thomas, all I can say is, abbreviations are extremely useful to someone like me who has to limit the amount of time I spend sitting conventionally in a chair. Anything longer than about five minutes is stolen time. But that aside, I thought 'parm' was pretty universal.

Ah yes, forgot about your recent ordeal.

I never said I didn't know what parm meant (I did have trouble with "ganish with remaining parm" I thought that might have been Gaelic mixed with English). It's just me: I don't like abbreviations much. Used to drive me crazy in the Air Force, where abbreviations and "in-words and phrases" created a separate language.

Okay, now you're just being acronymonious.