Using Asparagus in Season and Beyond

There are many ways to prepare fresh asparagus. If you want to enjoy it when it’s out of season, try this simple pickling technique.

by Edon WaycottApril 2000from issue # 26

grow edible asparagus require solitaire . Typically , it lease a season or two after planting the crowns before you may pick anything , and wait those two yr for the first harvest builds anticipation . When those pleasant-tasting spears break through the soil in the spring , payoff is in mint .

I never tire of this classic spring vegetable . Just - pick asparagus is good enough to deplete then and there , after you give the shaft a good rinsing to wash off off any soil . But there are many manner to serve cooked asparagus . The simplest way is unadorned , except for a drizzle of warm butter and a sparge of salinity and black pepper .

A light lemon - butter sauce graciously stress asparagus when served with sautéed trout or poached salmon . Top a platter of warm asparagus with a unproblematic sauce made of sieved hardboiled eggs , melted butter , and a little lemon juice . Or after pale , pungency - size chunks of edible asparagus can be combined with Parmesan cheese and chopped ham and stirred into a light ointment sauce spooned over fettuccini . Of of course , the rich and indulgent hollandaise sauce is always a delicious partner .

As spring passes into summer , I plough to my market place to add on my garden ’s supply of Asparagus officinales . The first to come along in the market are usually very thin , sometimes less than the diameter of a pencil . It is not until later on that the chubby spears arrive . Treat the spears like swerve flowers : Snip off the very oddment of the stalk and store the fizgig upright in a container with about an inch of water . They will keep in the icebox for a workweek .

Pickled edible asparagus spears : a way to extend the seasonWhen summer turn into pin , I miss asparagus , so going under the premise that no one can have too much , I created arecipethat would give me the spring freshness I get from my homegrown asparagus at any meter of the twelvemonth .

Choosing the freshest stalks usable , I pickle them in a light tarragon vinaigrette . Although the acetum induce the people of color to languish a scrap , the crispness and shape of the asparagus stay .

Choose a wide - mouth canning jar whose altitude correspond to the length of the edible asparagus you want to keep up . I often utilise a quart shock , but the improbable 10 - ounce or pint jar make honest choices , too . If your asparagus is more than 1⁄2 in thickheaded , peel the lower half of the chaff . You ’ll reveal the more tender inner core , and you will almost double the edible amount in the jar . If you would rather have intact versus pare stalks , cleave with the pencil - thin size that does n’t have to be disrobe . Or salve the lower , tougher part of the spear to habituate in soup stock . To snap off the woody end , hold an destruction of the spear in each bridge player and flex it . The gig will snap where the tough portion set out .

These pickled spears are perfect as hors d’oeuvres . ( The English wipe out their asparagus with their digit . ) Make a salad in a flash bulb by pull a few of these zesty spears from the jar and positioning them over lettuce topped with tenuous slice of sweet-flavored Allium cepa . Drizzle with olive crude and serve . Get fancy by enfold each spear in a slice of prosciutto and serving them as a first course with a lightsome mustard sauce . Fan them out on a decorative serving tray surround a pocket-size bowl of aïoli or hollandaise . Dust the lance lightly with chopped fresh herbs . These low - cal munchies will satisfy cravings for crisp , dusty , and calorie-free menu . Real food for thought , real fast .

ok Gardening Recommended product

The New Organic Grower , 3rd Edition : A Master ’s Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener , 30th Anniversary Edition

Chapin International 10509 Upside - Down Trigger Sprayer

A.M. Leonard Deluxe Soil Knife & Leather Sheath Combo

Get our latest tips , how - to article , and instructional videos sent to your inbox .

contract you up …

How to Grow Better Asparagus

How to Grow Asparagus

Plant an Asparagus Patch

Growing Asparagus

Join Fine Gardening for a costless engaging lively webinar featuring Dr. Janna Beckerman , a far-famed plant diagnostician as well as prof emerita at Purdue University and the ornamental expert manager …

When I make out a particular moxie buck cactus ( Astrophytum asterias ) at the Philadelphia Flower Show a few months ago , I knew I was in trouble . With a delightful vividness pattern …

When we only prioritise plant we want over plants our landscape indigence , each season is occupy with a never - terminate listing of chores : pruning , purloin , lachrymation , treating , amending , and fertilizing , with …

Video

Touring an Eco-friendly, Shady Backyard Retreat

You must be heedful when you get in the backyard of garden designer Jeff Epping — not because you ’re likely to trip on something , but because you might be dive - flush it by a pair …