Fresh asparagus is ready for its starring role
Three recipes highlight versatility of flavorful vegetable
Asparagus season sneaks up on me every year. I anticipate it so hungrily, so ardently, that I have to put it out of my head as it approaches. Stay calm, I tell myself on the way to the farmers market, asparagus will be here soon enough.
Then, suddenly, there it is, in bunches and bunches of mauvetipped stalks, as many as I can carry home, with more on the way.
Once I get my hands on those first bunches, I’ll cook them as simply as possible, perhaps a speedy sear in a hot buttered pan or a brief rendezvous in the steamer basket until they turn bright green. With those first asparagus, I won’t even pause for a hollandaise, so eager am I to eat my fill. At last, the frenzied feed.
As the season progresses, I’ll slow down with actual recipes, taking my time to explore asparagus’s nuances beyond its fresh and grassy succulence.
Simmering the stalks into a velvety soup, for example, softens their flavor and brings out their sweetness. I toss leeks and fennel into the pot to play this up even more, letting their edges caramelize. A zucchini gives the broth body once everything is puréed. As a final touch, I sauté the asparagus tips until just tender, then float them on top of this bright green elixir.
Fresh asparagus is also excellent raw, especially shaved into ribbons. This takes a few minutes, but after a soak in ice water, which curls the strands into a saladlike tangle, you’ll have a crisp, ethereal topping for all kinds of earthy dishes. Here, I season the strands with sesame and scallions and scatter them over a savory asparagus-mushroom grain bowl, crowned with a jammy egg. It makes a highly satisfying meal, and like all three of the recipes here, it’s meatless to boot.
And finally, asparagus season shall not pass without the stalks communing with a bowl of pasta. Inspired by a recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi, I mixed them with yogurt and feta for something piquant and creamy but still on the light and springy spectrum.