Asparagus is one of my favorites. I can easily eat an entire bunch on my own. I keep it simple with asparagus. Its flavor is delicate and I don't want to miss it or bury it with other influences. I usually just drizzle with olive oil and hit it with salt and pepper and broil it until just tender. But I also love soup. So asparagus soup it was. And it took all of about 15 minutes. Plus, I got to use the asparagus tips in risotto later that night.
- two bunches asparagus
- 1 bigger than medium onion, diced
- extra virgin olive oil
- salt and pepper
- splash of lemon juice
- 1 vegetable bouillon cube
Snap the asparagus stalks where they naturally break. Chop off tips and reserve. Chop spears into little disks. In a stock pot, heat olive oil on medium high. Saute onion and asparagus for about 6-7 minutes. While asparagus is cooking, dissolve the vegetable bouillon cube in three cups boiling water.
While the asparagus is cooking you can sauté the tips for a soup garnish. Or saute them to just eat. Or saute them for just a couple minutes because you plan to use them in risotto for dinner that night.
Add the broth to the cooking asparagus and bring to a boil, which happens really fast. Turn down heat and simmer until asparagus is just tender. Chances are good that the asparagus is already tender by the time you bring the pot to a boil. You can test a piece, carefully. Cool it off before you pop it in your mouth. Cooking too long dulls the color completely. Add salt and pepper to taste and a splash of lemon juice. Then, in small batches and carefully, ladel the soup into the food processor and blend. Each little batch I blend goes into a large bowl from which I can serve the soup or store leftovers. There is no need to return the soup to the pot because it's done. It goes from food processor to bowls. If you like, sprinkle with parmesan and/or garnish with the sauteed tips. Very simple and very delicious.
Right now we are lucky to be enjoying Washington grown asparagus for a great price. So we eat it all the time. We never seem to tire of it. Roast it, steam it, saute it and crack an egg over it, toss it into a salad, blend it into soup, just give me my asparagus.
I learned a great food and money-saving technique from watching Jaques Pepin's Fast Food My Way series on DVD from the library. One method of trimming asparagus is to bend t
he stalk and let it snap where it naturally gives. That is certainly a quick way but you have just snapped off a third (in some cases half) of the stalk you paid for by weight (asparagus on the left was snapped at the natural bend while the spear on the right was trimmed a la Jaques). Jaques takes a just a couple of extra minutes and a plain old vegetable peeler and trims the outer layer of the last third or so of each stalk. Underneath that layer is perfectly tender asparagus. Then just cut off the very end bit. Hold the stalk with the tip away from you and peel toward your body to remove the green layer of skin. You've just salvaged much of your purchase! Leaves you with more to enjoy in the meal. I should note that this is only prudent with the fat stalks of asparagus. Honestly, you won't catch me (or Jaques) peeling the skinny ones.
Here is a really easy and delicious way to fix asparagus.
Preheat oven to 450. Take one bunch of thick-stalked asparagus, wash and pat dry. Trim the stalks as described above. Spread out on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with one tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. Toss them around to coat with the oil. Any more oil will only smoke like crazy in your oven. Roast on the top rac
k of the oven for 8-10 minutes. Leave a bit of snap to them. That's it. From here you can simply dig in or take the roasted asparagus and include them in a salad, on a pizza, in a sandwich, use the tips as a garnish for soup. It's endless.
I'm submitting this post to this week's Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted by Gay from A Scientist in the Kitchen.
Ok, so the pic is silly but this is what happens when you begin your photo shoot and the camera battery dies after one exposure. The battery in my Nikon holds life for hundreds and hundreds of shots so you almost forget to pay attention to its needs. Eventually, however, the battery will die, dragging your plans down with it. This is the one and only bad shot of a really easy and delicious dish.Snap the asparagus where it naturally gives. Drizzle some olive oil in a skillet just large enough for the asparagus (you want to try to contain the eggs once you crack them). Saute the asparagus on medium high for about five minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Roll them around so you get a bit of browning on all sides. Then gently crack two eggs right on top of the asparagus so the yolk sits on top. I usually turn down the heat a bit too. I guess it depends on how you like your eggs. Cook at least until the whites are done. Season with grated parmesan cheese and crushed red pepper flakes. Serve with whole wheat toast.
Asparagus is one of my favorites. I can easily eat an entire bunch on my own. I keep it simple with asparagus. Its flavor is delicate and I don't want to miss it or bury it with other influences. I usually just drizzle with olive oil and hit it with salt and pepper and broil it until just tender. But I also love soup. So asparagus soup it was. And it took all of about 15 minutes. Plus, I got to use the asparagus tips in risotto later that night. 
