Asparagus Six Ways From Sunday

In the past 11 days, I have eaten asparagus for 10 different meals. That's how we roll here — eat it while it's in season and delicious! While freshly cut asparagus is so tender you can eat it raw, we've managed to have it a variety of ways.

Version 1: Stir fry. Always a go-to way to eat up lots of garden veg, Kirk also threw in radishes and mustard greens in one, and made a yummy garlic-ginger-lime sauce for another. Leftovers are my preferred lunch (because I am terribly lazy at 6 a.m. and that's the easiest thing to pack), so stir-fry has accounted for four of my asparagus meals this month.

Version 2: Steamed with a bit of lemon as a side dish. The steaming, as I mentioned before, is almost optional, but it does bring out its gorgeous color, and the lemon is nice.

Version 3: Pasta Primavera.


As I have pointed out in a previous post, taking the (not super intense) effort to make this with fresh pasta will change your life. The pasta is coated in just a bit of garlicky olive oil, and the veggies include asparagus slices, chives, and spinach. Plus Parmesan, of course. This also made fabulous leftovers for work the next day.

Version 4: Broiled with a balsamic reduction. Ok, so this one was at a restaurant. But that tangy balsamic was an excellent flavor to use with asparagus!

Version 5: Grilled.


Oh, so good with some charcoal flavor. We also had burgers (first of the grilling season!) and a spinach salad. Super simple, but super flavorful.

The asparagus is still coming, and I'm sure we'll keep finding ways to make it a little different over the next month or so. This year we are meant to harvest it only lightly, so we aren't cutting enough to freeze any. For this year, asparagus is something to get while the getting's good!

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