Farmers Markets

All about asparagus

It’s getting warmer, the days are getting longer, and my allergies are starting to act up. That can mean only one thing: asparagus season!

Why do I love asparagus? Nothing else tastes quite like it, for starters. It’s sweet, it’s tangy, it’s pungent, it’s fresh, it’s savory, all in one vegetable! It’s like a complete food that way, needing little more than salt and pepper to enliven the senses. Sure, it has its classic pairings, such as hollandaise sauce, morels, or bacon, but for this grad-student epicure, usually just a quick steam, boil, or saute is enough to bring out their full glory.

This season I have been eating a lot of Zuckerman Farms’ jumbo asparagus (South Pasadena farmer’s market, Hollywood farmer’s market) — I would recommend buying the thickest stalks you can afford, and maximize that volume-to-surface area ratio. Here’s why: skins just don’t have that much flavor. So while the thin asparagus may be more tender, resulting in less trim loss, there is no way they can compare with the jumbos in flavor. Jumbos are also a lot more convenient to clean and prep, because there are fewer of them in a batch, and because they keep well in some water. Avoid being suckered into paying more for asparagus “tips”? too — usually they are just old tips trimmed off of woody stems (you can tell by examining the tips for dried out “leaves”), and not at all a premium product.

So here I offer you my modular technique for making boiled asparagus, sauteed asparagus, and asparagus soup. I love this method because each technique builds on the last, so they’re easier to remember. You only need a couple things, though to enjoy this spring bounty: a knife, a cutting board, a fruit/vegetable peeler, some pots and pans, kitchen tongs, and a blender if you’re making soup. As for other ingredients, this calls only for salt, pepper, olive oil, butter, cream and vegetable/chicken stock — homemade is best, but try to get the no-sodium stuff so you can adjust the seasoning to your taste.

To prep: Wash and dry the asparagus. Take one stalk into both your hands, and, starting at the rigid base end, feel where the stalk just starts to become more flexible. Move up the stalk about another ¼” and slice the asparagus with a sharp knife. The ease of the cut should be an indication of how well you gauged the transition point. I prefer this method to the oft-used bend-and-snap because this way you don’t end up throwing away 50% of your ingredient, most of which is perfectly fine! The only step left is to peel the skin around the asparagus from about three inches from the tip to the base. It’s entirely optional, but it certainly helps cover up any trimming mistakes!

To boil/blanche: Put a medium-sized pot of salted water to an uproarious boil. You want the water to be as hot as you can get it, because anything less will rob you of that precious green color. Drop the tip-ends in first and let the water come back up to a full-boil for 1 or 2 minutes. The muted green color of the raw asparagus should now be a vibrant, sun-shining-through-the-clouds-onto-a-baseball-field green. Now use a set of tongs to turn the whole lot over so that the bases are now soaking. Let the water come up to a full boil for another minute (the stalks generally take less time to cook). Next, liberate them from their hot spring, plate, season with salt, pepper, and a touch of olive oil, and serve.

To saute: While your asparagus are blanching, gently melt 2-3 tablespoons of butter in a large saute pan. When blanching is complete, place the asparagus into the pan and saute gently (a very light sizzle) for 5-8 minutes, flipping them once during the process. During this time the tips should soften considerably, and their color will dip towards a deeper, forest green. Season and serve.

To make soup: Heat some vegetable/chicken stock (1.5 cups per “package” of asparagus) to a gentle boil. After the saute step, remove the asparagus from the pan and slice off some tips for garnish. Slice up the rest of the stalk and place into the boiling stock. Using an immersion blender (or standard blender), puree the soup together until smooth. Blend in some heavy cream (start with ¼ cup) to enrich the flavor and the texture, and season well with salt. To serve, place some asparagus tips in the center of a soup bowl and ladle soup around them. Garnish with some olive oil, truffle oil, or some pepper.

P.S. using thinner, unpeeled asparagus will result in a greener, grittier soup.

sneakypeteiii is a doctoral student in Chemistry at Caltech. He has been eating since he was a child, and reckons himself quite good at it. (see more of his posts).

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