EARLY SPRING BEGINS ASPARAGUS SEASON
Asparagus inspires gentle thoughts. ~Charles Lamb (1775-1834)
STATELY SPEARS
Is there any finer vegetable than asparagus?  It contains no fat or cholesterol and is low in sodium. A one-third pound serving supplies over half a daily supply of folic acid, and is a very good source of fiber, potassium, Vitamins C and B6. Once thought to have aphrodisiac properties, asparagus, for some people, is a mild laxative.
Grown in sandy soil, the asparagus season spans March through June. The older the plant, the larger the stalks, with the youngest plants producing the thinnest spears. Simple rinsing is not enough; soaking in water for a few minutes will encourage the gritty, troublesome grains out of the crevices of the tightly-packed tips. Dump the water and repeat until there is no sand seen in the bottom of the pan.
The thinner the shoots the more tender and flavorful the cooked vegetable. None but the largest (thicker than your thumb) require scraping with a peeler if you snap off the bottoms of each stalk; the natural break will occur at the point where the stalk begins to loose the tough, fibrous quality. Discard the inedible ends.
Don’t overcook. If you can smell it, it’s been on the heat too long, and will take on a very different – and unpleasant – taste, disrupting gentle thoughts. If you don’t like canned asparagus, I assure you that fresh asparagus, properly cooked, tastes nothing like the tinned horror. Any cooked vegetable that you can easily smush between two fingers is an over-cooked vegetable.
SIMPLY STEAMED
Steaming, in a very little bit of water, brings out the unique flavor in as little as two minutes for the thinnest spears. Thicker asparagus will take a minute or two longer. Steamed asparagus should be bright green in color, and meet your knife with a little resistance. There is no reason for asparagus, eaten as a side dish or put into salads, to ever be boiled. Because it cooks so quickly, even if you’re going to chop it for inclusion in a salad, cook it whole and then chop after it has cooled.
OR ROASTED
Roasting brings out the natural-occurring sugars. It must be completely dry, otherwise the moisture will cause it to steam. Simply brush with a little olive oil, place in a hot (400ºF oven) and roast until tender. No turning needed. Roasting takes a little longer than steaming, but keep a close eye on it because overcooking can occur quickly.
OR STOLEN
Over dinner one night at my ex-mother-in-law’s table, she told a tale of having prepared a lovely platter of asparagus, the first highly-anticipated preparation of the season. The tender stalks were laid out on a platter, each spear of asparagus cut into angled, two-inch slices. A family friend, as the dinner guest, was handed the platter to serve himself first. To everyone’s amazed horror, he took the serving fork and, with one graceful movement, swept every one of the the tender two-inch tips onto his plate. With am unapologetic grin as he passed the platter to his right, he looked up and said, “I love asparagus tips!”
Perhaps it is for just such a reason why asparagus, served by itself, is best served intact. That insures that everyone gets the benefit – and the joy – of those delicate tips.
