Friday's Featured Food: Asparagus

Asparagus is such a funny vegetable. Its stout little spikes pushing through the soil have come to signify the start of spring. It's one of the earliest vegetables to harvest, as a perennial that appears in April.

It's also my crop. Of all the vegetables in our garden, this is the one vegetable that was my choice to plant, my responsibility to maintain. It also brings me bragging rights, as in, "MY crop was ready to eat before YOURS! ha!" That is, until Jay started growing spinach and hanging baskets of tomatoes year round.

Asparagus is a very hardy vegetable, handling the extreme climate of Kansas with no problem. The trick to a good stand is to not pick it the entire first year after you plant it. I recently read that, by not picking it the first year, the roots get all the nutrients they need to set and flourish.

 Asparagus just pushing through

The key to good asparagus is to pick it at the right time. From the time you first see the little bud pushing through the soil until it is ready to harvest is, on average, 3 days. Asparagus is ready to pick when it reaches 7-9 inches tall.

This one is ready to harvest

To pick it, simply snap it off at the base. If you want, you can use a knife, but don't try to cut deeper than the soil. In fact, leaving a little bit of the stem in the ground is better for the plant.

If you wait too long to harvest it, though, the plant gets woody and tasteless. It always surprises me how quickly it grows too tall. Already this spring, it got away from me:

Oops!

Now that you have the right asparagus stalk, what do you want to do with it? First off, cook it right away. If you wait to prepare the asparagus, not only does it lose crispness and flavor, it also loses vitamins and nutrients. (Asparagus is a great source of folic acid, Vitamin A, and Potassium.)

My preferred cooking method is:

1. Wash about 6 to 8 asparagus stalk thoroughly, then cut into 2- to 3-inch long pieces. Separate the end pieces from the tips.
2. Add the lower stalk pieces to a saucepan filled with boiling water. Boil uncovered for 6 minutes.
3. Add the tips. Boil 5-8 more minutes.
4. Drain most of the water. Add about 3 tablespoons butter. 
5. Serve!

Now, that's the basic method, but asparagus is more versatile than most people think.  This Betty Crocker site has so many asparagus recipes. I think because it is the first fresh vegetable of the season, people tend to get even more creative with it. The most creative use I've tried is the Faux Guacamole recipe from Weight Watchers. It may take some courage on your part to try it, but I promise that I have made it and it is tasty... and fat free.

Friday's Featured Food: Asparagus