Asparagus-palooza
Thursday, May 3rd, 2007
I have a thing for asparagus. Don’t you?
They’re so much more exciting than other green things, like beans, or brussel sprouts. More glamorous. More spontaneous, more willing to switch outfits, like a girl I know who can wear dressy clothes to a casual event and get away with it.
Maybe the thrill of asparagus is its peculiarity. We never ate it, growing up:definitley not an element of East European cuisine! Asparagus comes from the lily family: is it a vegetable or a flower? It’s been used by First Nations people as medicine: it’s good for the heart! Asparagus root has been used in Chinese medicine to treat everything from arthritis to infertility. Asparagus itself contains folic acid, vitamin C, potassium and beta-carotene. Who knew?
But here’s the thing…I need some new ideas. how do you eat asparagus? Do you put it in salad, or make soup out of it? Do you roast it, boil it, blanche it, grill it? Do you have it with eggs, or with cheese, or just on its own? Is it a side dish or the main deal? Send me your asparagus recipes, ideas, or stories. Post them here in this blog, so we can all read them!
OK fair’s fair. Here’s an asparagus dish I’ve made, from a cookbook called The Girls Who Dish!, written collaboratively by Vancouver’s best women chefs. Melt a teaspoon of butter, stir in two teaspoons of finely chopped shallot, and then, a minute later, the juice of two blood oranges and one teaspoon of lemon juice. Removing it from the heat, swirl in two more teaspoons of butter, a fistful of chopped fresh thyme; salt and pepper to taste. Pour it over a pound of lightly steamed asparagus, sprinkling orange zest over top.
Now it’s your turn…
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In other news…Check out this interview with me about my book Comfort Food for Breakups in the Saturday, May 5 edition of the Toronto Star…by fabulous food columnist Marion Kane (her column is called Dish!).
