asparagus help [General]

2009 Jun 10
i sent my husband shopping and he came home with 4 lbs of asparagus (forgetting that i already had some). there is just the two of us eating it and we have been eating asparagus all season in many ways, but now i have a ton of it to get through. does anyone have any new ideas? i am a vegetarian, and i am also tired of eating it grilled, roasted, & sauted (oh, how i will miss it though).

here is some of what we have done (besides eating it on its own):
asparagus & lemon risotto
asparagus & ramps pasta (with pine nuts, garlic & sundried tomatoes)
asparagus quiche
grilled asparagus in sandwiches
blanched and then put in salad

i love asparagus & cheese crepes, but have never mastered cooking crepes.

i've googled and seen recipes and sort of felt 'eh about them.


2009 Jun 10
Asparagus in omelets might work out. How about if you saute onion, garlic, fresh spinach and asparagus in oil with a little cumin for flavour?

2009 Jun 10
in the name of shameless self-promotion, i used up a pound of asparagus doing this: butter-and-patience.blogspot.com

you can make asparagus spread that's quite tasty (i've subbed it in for hummus in sandwiches this spring):www.thekitchn.com

when you eat it on its own, do you put anything on it? i'm a big fan of asparagus with hollandaise (it's a very german thing)

2009 Jun 10
What about soups? I'm sure there will be an inevitable rainy day coming up soon...

2009 Jun 10
I would second the soup option since it freezes nicely.

2009 Jun 10
I am DYING to make this goat cheese, lemon and asparagus pasta, but haven't been able to get my act together with ingredients (I seem to always be missing the asparagus, the pasta, the cheese or the lemons): smittenkitchen.com


2009 Jun 10
5 simple words: Grilled Asparagus with Romanesco Sauce.

I promise you won't want it any other way after this.

2009 Jun 10
Soup can use a lot up.
Every year I try a new asparagus soup recipe in my search for THE asparagus soup. I haven't found it yet but this is the closest so far:

From www.epicurious.com

CREAM OF ASPARAGUS SOUP (CREME D'ASPERGES)
Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 50 min

2 lb green asparagus
1 large onion, chopped
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
5 to 6 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup crème fraîche or heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, or to taste

Cut tips from 12 asparagus 1-1/2 inches from top and halve tips lengthwise if thick. Reserve for garnish.
Cut stalks and all remaining asparagus into 1/2-inch pieces.
Cook onion in 2 tablespoons butter in a 4-quart heavy pot over moderately low heat, stirring, until softened. Add asparagus pieces and salt and pepper to taste, then cook, stirring, 5 minutes. Add 5 cups broth and simmer, covered, until asparagus is very tender, 15 to 20 minutes.
While soup simmers, cook reserved asparagus tips in boiling salted water until just tender, 3 to 4 minutes, then drain.
Purée soup in batches in a blender until smooth, transferring to a bowl (use caution when blending hot liquids), and return to pan. Stir in crème fraîche, then add more broth to thin soup to desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper. Bring soup to a boil and whisk in remaining tablespoon butter.
Add lemon juice and garnish with asparagus tips.
Cooks' note: • Soup keeps, covered and chilled, 2 days. If making ahead, add last tablespoon butter and lemon juice after reheating.
Makes 4 servings.
Gourmet, March 2001
Epicurious Food © 2002 CondéNet Inc. All rights reserved.

Andy’s notes: I add a bay leaf to the cooking onions (and sometimes remove it before pureeing). I use milk or 10% cream in place of cream and add a splash of white wine at the end of cooking. If the tips are cooked in some water or stock (sometimes I don’t bother if really fresh - I like them raw) I add the broth to the soup. If made with large old stalks (especially if frozen) I pour and work the pureed soup through a sieve if I want it smoother.

This is the recipe I'm going to try this year with my abundant crop:

www.cdkitchen.com

Asparagus And Pistachio Soup
CDKitchen www.cdkitchen.com

Category: Asparagus Soup
Serves/Makes: 8 | Difficulty Level: 3 | Ready In: 30-60 minutes

Ingredients:
1 medium onion
2 cups fresh asparagus tips (about 1 inch long)
1/2 cup natural pistachio meats
1 tablespoon butter
6 cups chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup cooking sherry
1/2 cup heavy cream

1. Directions:
Remove the skin from the onion and chop into 1/4-inch pieces. Cook the asparagus tips in water on medium heat until slightly tender. Cover the pistachio meats with boiling water and let sit for 10 minutes. Remove the skins and let the meats dry.
Saute the pistachio meats in the butter on medium heat until golden. Set the pistachio meats aside and add the onion to the butter; saute until limp.
Combine 1 cup of the stock, the pistachio meats, onion, salt, black pepper, and cooking sherry in a blender and mix until it's a smooth paste.
Place the mixture in a medium-sized pot over medium heat. Add the remaining stock and stir until well mixed. Add the asparagus tips and cook for 20 minutes on low heat.
Stir in the cream right before serving.

Recipe Location: www.cdkitchen.com
Recipe ID: 49261
This recipe is from CDKitchen www.cdkitchen.com
© 1995-2006 CDKitchen, Inc.

2009 Jun 10
Pam - Ah yes, the old "If we had cheese, we could have bread and cheese, if we had bread" syndrome. Gets me every time.

2009 Jun 10
Which is why, momomoto and pam, cooking parties are so much fun. "C'mon over, we'll make pizza. We just need you to bring onions. and cheese." A pizza is not a pizza in our house without fried onions.

2009 Jun 10
There are only four freaking ingredients and I live steps away from Hartman's. I really don't know what's wrong with me (today I have lemons and pasta, but no cheese, and I oven-roasted the asparagus for dinner last night).

LWB, so what do you provide? Flour, water, tomato sauce? ;P

2009 Jun 10
pam - i am also a fan of smitten. i did a very similar dish with asparagus and cooked it the same as her recipe. i didn't have goat cheese, so i used feta and toasted pine nuts.

thanks for all the suggestions. the idea of soup is a good one, especially since that seems to be the only way to get the veggies into my son. i also found a recipe for asparagus summer rolls on the california asparagus council website. i like their idea, but will do my own spin on it.

2009 Jun 10
HFF - crepes, recipes, meh? Did you not see my delicious crepes over here: ottawafoodies.com/forum/1938

Off the top of my head, I think this is the right recipe (working from memory here): 1 cup AP flour, 1.25-1.333333333 cups of milk, 2 eggs, pinch of salt, and if making sweet crepes add 1 tbsp sugar. Mix all ingredients until very smooth, best to let sit for half an hour or longer, covered with saran to allow any lumps to dissolve. Melt about .5tbsp of butter per crepe in a med-low non-stick pan, pour in batter, tilt the pan all over the place to spread the crepe batter thinly throughout the pan. When the top looks dry, flip it over carefully and cook for a short while longer, depending on your heat setting. I should really video tape this...

2009 Jun 10
When I was a veggie kid I loved creamed asparagus on toast. Think chicken a la king but with just asparagus.

You can slice the spears into tiny rounds like you would green onion or into 1-1.5 inch lengths. Blanch till tender crisp (or a little softer if you like it that way) and refresh under cold water to shock the green colour (otherwise it starts to look like over done peas in the sauce.

Make your favourite white/bechamel sauce recipe (1/4 c flour, 1/4 c butter, 2 c milk to about 2 c raw asparagus), and stir in the asparagus to warm. Throw toast down while waiting. Butter toast (if you son needs the fat), cut into bites (if he's still small or serve with knife and fork) and spoon sauce over.

We had this daily with sliced tomatoes during asparagus season.

2009 Jun 10
asparagus stirfry with tofu and spicy/not black bean sauce

asparagus, leeks and ginger wrapped in yuba skin and steamed

asparagus miso soup

grilled asparagus with miso vinaigrette (miso, cider vinegar, pickled ginger, dijon, olive oil, sesame oil)

tempura asparagus

sesame seed tempura asparagus (seeds in batter)

asparagus salad! (raw! shaved with potato peeler, pecorino romano or asiago, fave Italianish vinaigrette)

grilled asparagus on caesar salad

asparagus fried rice

asparagus red curry

asparagus with Thai chilis and Thai basil

poached or grilled and turned into asparagus pesto!

asparagus phad thai (hmm might need to do that as a special tomorrow)

asparagus, sundried tomato and ricotta tortellini or manicotti, smoked tomato sauce

butter "asparagus" on basmati rice

lol
k i'll stop
i am a brainstormer

2009 Jun 10
HipFunkyFun - Another vote for soup... freeze it and just think, sometime later this year, you can have a whole bowl of springtime all over again.

As for the other recipes You All are making me hungry!

I still have some Asparagus in the fridge as well... thinking I'll be making Chimichimi's Crepes and serving them up with a slathering of LWB's Hollandaise.

And oh ya here is another tip... When I went a GOOGLING for the photo to put here, I got like a zillion other asparagus pictures... drool worthy - and most of them seem to be linked to recipes. So you can "window shop" the food porn for something interesting to make.


2009 Jun 11
thanks all.

asparagus tempura sounds yummy! so many great ideas, now i have to go buy more asparagus.

last minute guests for dinner, so i ended up doing my own version of smitten kitchen's asparagus and goat cheese pasta. very quick, tasty and easy to adapt to a bigger group of people.

2009 Jun 11
I was thinking something along the lines of a dip/spread, as LWB mentioned near the top. Like a roasted red pepper dip, only with asparagus. Something like:

- Grill asparag
- Blitz in food processor
- Add some goat cheese
- Blitz more
- Add olive oil to loosen to desired consistency, as well as salt/pepper/lemon juice to round it out


2009 Jun 12
Just made a roasted vegetable and quinoa salad (half the roasted vegs were asparagus--everyone loved it). Gay Cooke ran a recipe 2 or 3 weeks back for roasted asparagus soup--it was very good, you can look it up in the Citizen archives. I have never personally tried this, but my sis-in-law makes awesome dilled asparagus pickles--might want to check with Zymurgist on the how-to's with canning but they are very good.