Asparagus are very low in calories, but a great source of folate, Vitamin C, calcium, fiber and potassium. They are also rich in antioxidants. They also make your pee smell funny. Just saying.
Asparagus comes in bundles of "spears." All of the spear is edible, but you'll want to cut off the bottom inch or so, because it is tough. The further up the spear you get, the more tender it is. After trimming the bottom off, you can also use a potato peeler to peel off the skin toward the bottom, making it even more tender.
There are three ways I cook asparagus usually. My non-recipe is to roast asparagus spears in a 425 degree oven, single layer on a baking sheet, with some olive oil and kosher salt. Depending on the size of your spears, this takes about 10-15 minutes.
A staple meal around here, because it takes only about 20 minutes to make, is salmon cakes, roasted asparagus, and mac and cheese (yes, I often make this from scratch, but we kind of secretly love Annie's shells and cheese from a box). The salmon cakes are just canned salmon, 1 egg, 3 Tbs mayonnaise, 1/4 c. flour, 1/4 c. cornmeal, and half of a small onion finely chopped.
I must really think salmon and asparagus go together, because my other favorite way of preparing asparagus usually accompanies my very favorite salmon. This is another quick weeknight meal. For the asparagus, I cut the spears into 1 inch pieces, then stir-fry in hot sesame oil for about five minutes. Meanwhile, combine 2 Tablespoons soy sauce with 2 teaspoons sugar. Pour soy mixture into wok and stir-fry another minute. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve. Sometimes I leave the soy/sugar out and just sprinkle sesame seeds on plain stir-fried asparagus.
Finally, my favorite risotto is made with asparagus and shiitake mushrooms. Oh yum - I could eat this every day and not get sick of it! Unfortunately my family likes it too, so I have to share.
So you see? Asparagus are both versatile and super easy to prepare!
2 comments:
I roasted aparagus the same way you did for dinner last night. AND grilled salmon... It's sooo easy and so good.
We have it growing on our garden. Although we haven't picked enough for a meal, yet.
I made the cheese straws yesterday, also, but now we are convinced the crackers would have been better.
Have you ever grilled it??? Oh my. SO delish. Asparagus is one of our FAV veggies, Grilling it hust give it that charred yummy flavor. We roast it too, but grilling is about 100 times better *love*
Now I want asparagus. LOL
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