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Post by suzanne on Mar 23, 2006 18:30:53 GMT -7
Anyone out there an asparagus lover like me? Asparagus is starting to appear in the grocery store now that spring is coming, and this is what I do with it:
Sautéed Garlic Asparagus
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
1 bunch fresh asparagus (cut off any tough bottom parts)
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped very fine
salt and pepper
Put olive oil in a large skillet and add butter; swirl til butter has melted, on medium heat. Add the garlic and asparagus spears; cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until asparagus is tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
If you like your asparagus well done, reduce heat and cook an additional 5 minutes.
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Post by heymikey on Mar 23, 2006 19:25:46 GMT -7
hey suzanne, this is mike the chef. you can come cook at my house any time! asparagus grows wild out here in san diego. thats a great and easy recipe you sent in! i made some tonight by taking out the butter, but added a dash of sesame oil, soy sauce, terriyaki and chili paste! i served it with a piece of grilled salmon and boxed uncle bens rice pilaf!! canned peaches and whipped cream for dessert!
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Bob S
European
Rainbow Bear
Posts: 2,052
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Post by Bob S on Mar 23, 2006 20:15:01 GMT -7
;D I love Asparagus no matter how it is prepared. One of the only vegtables that uses rock salt for plant food. ;D ;D  |
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nancy
European
Posts: 2,144
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Post by nancy on Mar 23, 2006 20:15:26 GMT -7
YUM! I love asparagus, but do not prepare it often. What is the deal with the white asparagus? It looks odd to me, it should be green.  |
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Post by suzanne on Mar 24, 2006 7:45:29 GMT -7
Mike, Sounds like you had quite a tasty feast last night!  I will have to try your Asian-inspired way of making asparagus. I bet it went well w/the salmon. Bob, So you mean that asparagus needs salty soil to grow in? I've never tried growing it. I've heard it takes years to establish a plot but once it's established, they apparently faithfully produce lots for years. I'd like to grow some. I've also heard they do well in colder areas. Nancy, I don't care for the white asparagus either. It looks odd to me too, rather anemic! Do you know how they make it white? They cover up the shoots when they're growing, and when they're shielded from light like that, they stop photosynthesizing and stop producing chlorophyll. Well, that's what I read somewhere once. I stick to the green ones, personally. |
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Post by heymikey on Mar 24, 2006 10:06:23 GMT -7
yes, white asparagus can be weird to eat because of the size of the spears. they sell alot of it in brussels! thats there favorite vegetable. when i was a young cook the only way you could get asparagus was in a can. old chefs used to say that green asparagus is great for cleaning out your bladder, the chlorophyll turns your urine a weird color but it works like a dieretic!
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Post by bescheid on Mar 24, 2006 12:57:47 GMT -7
When I was much younger then my self now...mother and I would take along a long knife, and walk around the apple orchards and dig asparagus fresh out of the soft soil.
We generally steamed it, or just boiled in a pan of water. Then with a bit of butter on it, enjoyed!
But, then, all food was precious then...
Charles
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Bob S
European
Rainbow Bear
Posts: 2,052
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Post by Bob S on Mar 24, 2006 13:04:11 GMT -7
;D Suzanne. I had a friend whose father owned an Asperagus farm in the lower part of Michigan. Every Spring he would go home to help with the harvest (1st cutting). He assured me that rock salt was used as plant food and that a field of Asperagus is cut like grass. Representatives of hotels would come to the farm and bid for the 1st cuttings. These cuttings were the large, plump and tender types. When I heard that rock salt was used I too was a bit skeptical at first.
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Post by rdywenur on Mar 24, 2006 18:33:26 GMT -7
Love asparagus. Has anyone ever hunted for dandilion or wild broccoli (rappi). Sauted in some olive oil and garlic. or dandelion salad...yum. (I didn't but my BIL would stop the car when we drove in the country and pick some. I don't think I could recognize the rappi. you have to pick it before the little yellow flowers bloom).
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Post by gardenmoma on Mar 25, 2006 20:55:39 GMT -7
Suzanne, you are correct about how white asparagus is bleached.
I love both white and green asparagus.
The local German restaurant ocassionally features white asparagus...this is my greatest treat. I find the taste very different from the green.
As soon as the local asparagus is for sale, we buy and eat a lot of it. We use to freeze it, but I decided the work involved was not worth the results. Anything otherthan fresh gets soggy and looses taste.
Thanks for the recipe, I will try it as soon as the local crop is ready. We usually eat it as Charles remarked he does...though I usually steam it. The taste of really fresh asparagus is os sweet to me that I don't even use butter.
GM
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Post by bescheid on Mar 26, 2006 8:20:34 GMT -7
GM
I do not fish much any more, but some time back. My wife would not be very agreeable with my freezing fish in the freezer (smell), so I got away with it by placing fish in a large freezer bag, filling it then with water, sealing the top with care and freezing. When thawed out later, the fish were as of fresh caught. Even the white fish (when normally frozen and thawed, tasted like wet saw dust) would have a fresh caught tangy flavour.
Confession: I have not had the opportunity to test this on vegtables, but, see no reason of that much difference.
What ever works...
Charles
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Post by kaima on Mar 26, 2006 9:36:07 GMT -7
I lived in "spargel" or asparagus country while in Germany and spent a lot of time passing through asparagus fields, all of it white asparagus.
_ _ _ _ _
/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \
All of the fields were mounded as I tried to illustrate above, with throghs and flat topped mounds every four feet or so. The white asparagus was dug out by hand, using migrant labor to a large degree from out of country. Hmmm... does that sound like our Mexicans protesting yesterday? Germany does have an orderly migrant worker program.
There are spargel festivals, bronze statues to spargel and the spargel farmer, special spargel dinners in local restaurants, and the local white spargel is so highluy prissed that people would pay 2.5 times as much for the local white product rather than the imported Spanish/Portugese green spargel.
I never heard of rock salt fertilizer, but then I never asked. I know of rock salt as the traditional American shotgun food to keep maurading kids from robbing fields...
Kai the Old Salt
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Post by kaima on Mar 26, 2006 9:42:18 GMT -7
OK, this is what it looks like:  |
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Post by suzanne on Mar 27, 2006 12:13:17 GMT -7
Love asparagus. Has anyone ever hunted for dandilion or wild broccoli (rappi). Sauted in some olive oil and garlic. or dandelion salad...yum. (I didn't but my BIL would stop the car when we drove in the country and pick some. I don't think I could recognize the rappi. you have to pick it before the little yellow flowers bloom). Is "rappi" the same thing as "rabé"? I had this once in a fancy restaurant but could never find it in the grocery store since then. |
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Post by suzanne on Mar 27, 2006 12:15:29 GMT -7
I love both white and green asparagus. The local German restaurant ocassionally features white asparagus...this is my greatest treat. I find the taste very different from the green. Gardenmoma, I will have to try some white asparagus. It is indeed popular in Germany in the spring, with big bunches of it for sale all over in open-air markets there. I will have to get over my mental block of white asparagus and try it. What do you like to serve it with? Ham maybe? |
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I will have to try your Asian-inspired way of making asparagus. I bet it went well w/the salmon.
