Spring conjures up thoughts of warmer weather and asparagus. Asparagus is a versatile and nutritious vegetable that can be cooked a variety of ways.
About Asparagus
- Varieties include green, purplish or purple green, or European White.
- Treat asparagus like flowers, trimming the ends.
- Store stalks upright in water or wrap ends with wet paper towel or damp tea towel and cover loosely with plastic. Store in refrigerator up to 2 weeks.
- To prepare for serving, rinse under cold water. Peel stem with a sharp knife instead of breaking off the tough base. Start at the stem and peel more shallow as you go up the stem. Stop peeling 3 to 4 inches from
the crown.
Cooking Asparagus
Roasting
- Prepare asparagus stems as described above.
- Preheat oven to 425o and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Very lightly coat asparagus with olive oil and lay out in single layer on the sheet. Very lightly sprinkle with sea salt.
- Roast, starting out at 6 minutes and check – you want the asparagus to glisten and just start to tenderize – then pull from oven and let finish cooking on the baking sheet.
Steeping
- Place a large braising pan with a very small amount of water and pinch of salt on high; the water will just cover the bottom of the pan.
- When water is hot, add asparagus to the pan and spread evenly across – place lid on and leave the heat on high.
- When water is gone, the asparagus is perfectly tender – remove immediately from heat.
