It's been a month and a week since the first handful of asparagus was harvested, a month since taking this photo and now the feast is over. Very few new spears are emerging now because too many shot up before I could cut them. Now the missed spears have branched out into a lovely ferny cloud, soaking in the sun and rain for the asparagus inundation next year. I may be able to pick a little more but they just don't taste as sweet now that the plant's focus is on storing its energy.Our asparagus patch needs to be cut both in the morning and evening once it gets going in early April. I've been busy this last month with as many as 50 spears a day to turn into another yummy dish. This year we've had lots of steamed asparagus, cream of asparagus soup, asparagus sauteed in garlic butter and tossed with Parmesan cheese, asparagus timbales, asparagus and mushroom crepes, asparagus goat cheese tarts and several asparagus salads. I love being able to indulge in asparagus treats in the Spring! Didn't get to do the asparagus Benedict this time, there's always next year.
Here are two of my favorite asparagus dishes:
Cream of Asparagus Soup
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp minced onion or shallot
1 Tbsp flour
4 cups chicken stock (1 box)
12 thick (1" wide) or 24 thin (pencil width) spears
fresh asparagus
salt & pepper to taste
up to 1 cup cream (optional)
In a medium sized pot, saute onion in butter until softened. Whisk in flour and let bubble as you stir for a minute or so then whisk in chicken stock. Chop asparagus spears into 1" lengths and add all but the tips to the stock mixture. Slowly bring stock to a simmer then simmer gently for 10 minutes. Puree soup in a blender, food processor or with a stick blender until smooth. Return to heat and add the tips, salt, pepper and cream, if desired(I usually don't add it unless making soup for company). Serve when the tips turn bright green.
Asparagus Salad
12 medium spears fresh asparagus
2 chopped hard boiled eggs
1 Tbsp minced shallot
2 Tbsp of your favorite vinaigrette salad dressing, fresh or bottled
salt & pepper
Snap off the tough end of the asparagus and steam for about 3 minutes, just until the spears turn bright green and begin to get tender. Cool in iced water and chop into bite sized pieces. Whisk together dressing and shallots then toss with asparagus and chopped eggs. You can add a pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper on top. Other nice additions are a good sprinkle of freshly chopped chives, a crumbled slice of cooked bacon or a little bit of diced ham.
