ASPARAGUS!

[Trailrider1951]

God, how I love it! It is one of the BEST things about early spring. Last night I took a whole pound of spears, washed and trimmed them, and sauteed them in a large frying pan with 2-3 tablespoons of unsalted butter for about 10 to 15 minutes until crisp-tender. I then served them with grilled Boca burgers on onion rolls, with a nice Shiraz to drink. Dining nirvana! So, how do you cook your asparagus? And what do you serve it with? :9

[Stinky The Clown]

1. We grill it

Salt and olive oil. Grill until it shows grill marks but is still crisp.

In season, we'll do it 2 or 3 times a week!

[Gormy Cuss]

10. +1

We toss it in a seasoned lemon & olive oil blend and when it comes off the grill it gets tossed in it again. Just made the first of the season batch last week.

[The empressof all]

2. I love it all

I love it grilled with EVOO a little salt and a poached egg on top. Then you dip the spears into the egg yolk. Yumnmers. I love it too with ham and swiss in an omelet. I generally use just the tip half of the spear and save the more woody ends to pressure cook and puree for a velvety soup.

[pengillian101]

12. Holy cow, that sounds good - unusual - but good!

"I love it grilled with EVOO a little salt and a poached egg on top. Then you dip the spears into the egg yolk. Yumnmers."

I cannot wait until fresh is in season here in MN - should be soon. Asparagus is my favorite of all.

Ya got a good asparagus soup recipe to share?

[The empressof all]

14. We had it with the egg in Italy years and years ago

It's become the go to way to serve it in our house. It brings back memories and it's just so good.

My soup is ridiculously easy.... I take the Asparagus and onion (If it's the big fat ones I may give the woody ends a quick peel) throw it in the pressure cooker with a bit of Better than Bouillion and cook it down. I then use the hand blender to puree it and adjust for thickness. Sometimes I'll add cheese but more often than not I just top the bowl with a bit of fat free sour cream. Of course I add Salt and Pepper and sometimes a pinch of cayenne if I remember.

It's also great to add Cauliflower to the mix if you want a lighter flavor and additional veggies.

[pengillian101]

19. Thank you!

"My soup is ridiculously easy.... I take the Asparagus and onion (If it's the big fat ones I may give the woody ends a quick peel) throw it in the pressure cooker with a bit of Better than Bouillion and cook it down. I then use the hand blender to puree it and adjust for thickness. Sometimes I'll add cheese but more often than not I just top the bowl with a bit of fat free sour cream. Of course I add Salt and Pepper and sometimes a pinch of cayenne if I remember.

It's also great to add Cauliflower to the mix if you want a lighter flavor and additional veggies."

How are your dentures coming along? I just had my first burger today that I could bite into like a regular person.

Gads, what an adjustment. I want to just say to other folks - do regular maintenance on your real teeth and see your dentist. Dentures suck big time.

Thanks for the soup recipe!

[grasswire]

3. just perfectly cooked, as a side

My favorite way to dress it is with butter and a bit of orange zest. If you haven't tried asparagus with butter and orange zest....well, it's nearly as good an idea as spring itself.

[Tesha]

4. Veal Oscar...

mmmmm

Of course I don't eat veal much any more... and hollandaise is loaded with cholestrol... and crab on the east coast is way too dear...


so small raw chopped spears in a salad or
steamed just until al dente or
roasted with evoo
and this year I'll try grilled.

Don't you love the spring?

[yellerpup]

5. I like it steamed with a little sesame oil and a few seeds

sprinkled over. I save the stalks and make soup with the last of the tips. Because I am allergic to milk, I thicken the soup with potato.

[DrDan]

6. like you - sauteed - but in olive oil

and some green onions. garlic, salt and pepper

if I can get some fresh french-cut green beans - I include them also

mmmmmmmmmmm

[MrMickeysMom]

7. With garlic, of course...

I chop fresh garlic with EVOO, then add red pepper flakes after adding the spears. I have put this over macaroni.

I will miss the fact that my brother in law no longer will provide his early spring asparagus... he moved to Florida, damn it!

[Cass]

8. Mostly I roast it with salt, pepper, olive oil and garlic as a side dish.

Sometimes I make a fritatta with smoked salmon, asparagus, and mushrooms.

Years ago my grandmother used to bread it and fry it...oh how I loved that!

[hippywife]

9. I'll eat it

anyway someone wants to serve it. One of my favorite veggies. :9

[TreasonousBastard]

13. Best answer. Roasted is my favorite way, but everything else is good.

[NJCher]

17. Roasted here, too

Prefer to use sesame oil and sprinkle toasted sesame seeds over it.

But sometimes I just like to snap off the spears in my garden, wash them with the garden hose, and have them raw, right there at the source.


Cher

[kimi]

11. Ah, just poached lightly in kosher-salted water

no one else in the family will eat it.

Barbarians. So, all the more for me!!

[japple]

15. Ours hasn't started coming in yet, but when it does, I'll roast it with

olive oil, salt, pepper. It only lasts for about a month, but we eat it every chance we get. My Dad & Mom planted it about 30 years ago, and it's still producing. We're probably going to increase the size of the beds this year as our family is growing! We'll teach the little ones coming up how to enjoy vegetables.

[TreasonousBastard]

16. FWIW, I just stuck a pound in the microwave...

sprinkled with a little olive oil and nuked it for maybe 7 minutes. Came out similar to roasting it-- not quite as good, but close enough.

Thought I'd save some for grilled cheese sandwiches later, but ended up eating the whole pound at one sitting. (*Burrp*)

Gives me a good excuse to get a few more pounds tomorrow.

(A world without eggplant, spinach, and asparagus is not a world I want to live in.)

[pengillian101]

20. FWIW, I just stuck a pound in the microwave...

Well, you little selfish piggy!

Thanks for sharing with your DU pals, but you didn't ping me over there.

[TreasonousBastard]

21. It would have been gone by the time you got here. Besides...

I don't want to hear anyone griping about their store-bought teeth instead of enjoying a perfectly good plate of crispy asparagus.

(Asparagus for you when you get them properly adjusted and get used to them-- the test is corn on the cob and then a nice, crispy apple.)

[pengillian101]

22. That was an Alec Baldin quote he said to his daughter, remember?

"Well, you little selfish piggy!"

"I don't want to hear anyone griping about their store-bought teeth instead of enjoying a perfectly good plate of crispy asparagus.

(Asparagus for you when you get them properly adjusted and get used to them-- the test is corn on the cob and then a nice, crispy apple.)"

HA!! My store bought teeth broke my bank account, I'll tell ya.

"the test is corn on the cob and then a nice, crispy apple"

Don't I wish...

[TreasonousBastard]

23. That's where that came from? Musta missed it, but I miss...

a lot of celebrity stuff.

You'll get used to your teeth after a while, but you should wait till all the adjustments are done and they fit properly. Had uppers and lowers for maybe 15 years now and hardly know they're there. I do very well with corn on the cob and apples, and a few other things my inferior real teeth couldn't deal with.

Hang in there, it gets better. Really, it does.

[Richard Steele]

18. I cook asparagus every which way- it's always so good!

Last time I cooked some was 6 days ago.
Cooking a big pot of brown rice, I put
a basket in the pot and steamed some asparagus above it.

The rice: I mixed that with some bigass shrimp and some asian-style
ginger-soy-based brown gravy, but the asparagus, oh I just
put that on the side and dotted it with a dribble of chapagne vinegar.
It tasted so great!!!!

It doesn't matter what i do with asparagus, it always makes me look
like I'm some sort of genius Chef!

[lukasahero]

24. Bunches of different ways

A couple of favorites:

Steamed with a lemon dijon sauce drizzled over top
Same recipe as above (including lemon dijon sauce) but diced into a salad with tomatoes, olives and capers
Sauteed with garlic and butter
Panini sandwiches made with asparagus spears, tomato slices, basil, goat cheese and balsamic vinegar
Roasted or grilled is great, too.