Also very tasty from the oven. Prepare as @Firenze says (you can also peel the bottom of the stem above where you cut it off) and put them in a flat dish in a single layer. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and roast at 220°C for about 10-15 minutes. Serve as a side dish or as an entree with a vinaigrette dressing. For a fancy version, top with parmesan, a poached egg and dry cure ham.
Or grill the asparagus and serve with vinaigrette, or add to a quiche to make a pretty cartwheel pattern with the chopped cooked woody bits used to flavour the custard, or ... You can make hollandaise, but a quick cheat if you're short on eggs, as I was when I had my asparagus hit, is ready made mayonnaise. (I love asparagus, and yes, it does turn your pee green, as beetroot turns it pink.)
Sorry to hear about your son @Boogie - hope he's better soon.
Has anyone heard from @Wesley J? He's not been on board for over a week.
My veg box has brought me asparagus. Um, what do I do with it? Grill? Steam? Dunk it in egg? Something else?
I either steam it, grill it in butter (real, of course, not the colored fatty stuff they call margarine), or saute it in olive oil with a bit of garlic added.
I've been doing the cooking for the last wee while; my sister's very fond of asparagus*, and I've been cooking it for her - pretty much as La Vie described, but with lemon-infused olive oil.
* unlike me - one spear every six months is more than sufficient.
My veg box has brought me asparagus. Um, what do I do with it? Grill? Steam? Dunk it in egg? Something else?
Grilled is good, but we usually roast it. Lay it flat on a baking sheet (with woody bottom parts of the stems cut off, of course), drizzle a bit of olive oil on it, season with a little salt and pepper, and roast it in the oven at 400°F/200°C. How long depends on how thick the asparagus is, but usually 10–15 minutes does it.
A squeeze of lemon, if you have any, just before serving is a nice touch.
Give it to me. Failing that, prep as follows: hold a spear at mid point, and pull down the bottom end. It should snap cleanly. Discard woody end.
Now either steam or microwave briefly until just tender. Slather with butter and eat.
Not a hope, sorry. I'm liking the idea of roasted with poached egg & parmesan (I have no butter, but do have rapeseed oil...)
Sounds a bit like a weekend treat breakfast
My son makes a delicious lunch of homemade soda bread, homemade hollandaise sauce, and a poached egg with asparagus on the side. I must order it when he can actually come home again.
Asparagus, when we can get it, is $6-8 per pound. So we don't get it. I rather like it, but it is a rare treat here. Mushrooms are dear enough at half that. Both are carefully eaten.
Miss Amanda is, I think, correct on both the Latin and the assessment of which are best. Uncle Monty would agree, no doubt.
Omelette was mentioned above... asparagus (precooked), mushrooms (sauteed), and brie, in an omelette, sided by a nice glass of white wine, and all is well with the world. I've never tried North American bacon, but I have used prosciutto, so bacon should be very good, too. When I saute asparagus, I often will give it a splash of white wine when it's about 2/3 cooked. As for herbs, I find that thyme or tarragon are very good friends to asparagus.
As to the strange odour asparagus produces in urine, I think that it's ~20% of the population do not suffer this. It has something to do with possessing a particular enzyme. This was explained to me once at a dinner party, too late in the evening for me to have retained the details.
I'm pretty sure the Latin asparagus is 4th declension, so the plural would be asparagus also (but with a long u).
I'm going to out myself as an oik here, as its possible other languages do this; but as I think I once mentioned elsewhere on the Ship, I've been using some lockdown time to start to learn Polish. Last night, having been battling manfully with a couple of different verb conjugations and masc./fem./neut. sing./pl. noun-and-adjective declension stuff, all vaguely expected from Latin and German taken at school long ago, I find out that if the verb has negation - 'nie' - then all the noun-and-adjective endings change! FFS...
Just schlepped 6+kg of groceries from the small Tesco. The one-way system pushes you to shop rather more hurriedly and randomly than if you had time to browse. And the desserts had to be got from a distance via an assistant, to whom you hesitate to say 'If that yogurt's not good for at least a week, put it back'.
Really, just the desserts? Why would that be? Are they tings people are most likely to take into their hands and then return to the self? Or is it something to do with the layout of the shop?
I patronised our local 'convenience store' this morning, as there was a bit of a queue at the Co-Op just up the street.
I only wanted a few essentials (BEER, WINE - you know the sort of thing). In a narrow aisle, a Yoof tried to push past me. OI!, says I, TWO METRES!, brandishing my walking-stick at arm's length. He still tried to push past, so I shouted GO ROUND THE OTHER WAY!, which he obediently did, muttering Imprecations under his breath.
The shopkeeper caught my eye, and we both raised our eyebrows, and shrugged our shoulders...
tbf, I think that's the first time I've had to tell someone to keep their distance.
Don't be afraid to say 'Please keep your distance', or something to that effect. It's YOUR health, and you have the right to expect others to respect it, particularly under the present circumstances.
tbf, again, many people simply don't think...but that's common in many walks of life...
Asparagus (precooked), mushrooms (sauteed), and brie, in an omelette, sided by a nice glass of white wine, and all is well with the world. . . . When I saute asparagus, I often will give it a splash of white wine when it's about 2/3 cooked. . . . As to the strange odour asparagus produces in urine, I think that it's ~20% of the population do not suffer this. It has something to do with possessing a particular enzyme. This was explained to me once at a dinner party, too late in the evening for me to have retained the details.
Or after too much white wine.
Miss Amanda generally does not discuss her bodily functions with strangers, but we're not really strangers here. She has noticed the odor that asparagus imparts to tinkle, but not the color,
Really, just the desserts? Why would that be? Are they tings people are most likely to take into their hands and then return to the self? Or is it something to do with the layout of the shop?
It was just they had that bit fenced off for cleaning.
Anyway, I have my weekly trove: just to work out the meal plan - Liver and Clementine Surprise? Courgette in Chocolate Brioche? Stilton 'n' Samosa?
(Apropos of nothing in particular, I have the Greyfriars Holiday Annual of 1924. An enlightening glimpse into the very different world of nearly a century ago...)
I have completely stopped going to shops for food - I was getting too stressed out and miserable going to Asda, and I decided it wasn't worth it. Before lockdown, I loved food shopping, and I don't want to start having negative associations with it. It's weird - at the beginning of lockdown I was getting cravings for certain foods that I didn't have at home, like sausages, or beetroot, or burgers, so I made myself go to Asda, because it felt important for my mental health to fulfil these little things, as something nice and that I could control in the midst of chaos.
Then I got to a point where I decided I was quite happy to eat the same meal every day if necessary, and had no interest in going to Asda, and didn't want to go back until after lockdown. I get a fruit and veg box delivered every two weeks, which also has six eggs in it. I have meat, fish and bread in my freezer and rice and pasta and pulses in my cupboard.
I decided my staple would be nettles and wild garlic, because there is loads and loads of it in the woods, and I like going to the woods a hundred times more than going to Asda. So I am having nettle and wild garlic omelette, and nettle and wild garlic macaroni cheese, and nettle and wild garlic stir fry, and nettle and wild garlic flat bread.
I'm contemplating the most sensible way of co-ordinating cooking something (probably fish with veggies) for S., and something else (probably STEAK with veggies) for me, while not actually using every cooking vessel in the house.
I shall muse further on the subject while ambling, as it's 15° and a sunny day.
We had fun last night in the form of a virtual quiz devised by my nephew, which I think S. and I managed to win, although I don't know how, as many of our guesses ended up being wrong ...
Apparently virtual Monopoly is on the cards for this evening.
If you DO pass 'Go', remember to keep at least two metres away...
@fineline - I sort of see what you mean. I was OK with going to Tesco, and perhaps queuing for maybe 10 minutes or so, but I really don't want to do even that again, unless I have to.
Luckily, I have 2-3 corner shops within fairly easy reach, and, if I time it right, there are no queues. Between them, they have just about all I want/need.
I'll take a rain-check on the nettles, though, unless you can provide Nettle WINE or BEER...
@Piglet I have a similar regular conundrum (currently evidenced by the state of the kitchen after I cooked miso with rice noodles and egg for my daughter (that was a reheat from the other night, other than the egg), and a potato and spinach omelette for me for lunch. Supper is going to be similar, I have beef mince from my Tesco's foray last night which I really don't want to eat, but my carnivorous daughter is looking forward to. I know I'm going to be using every pan to cook a version of cottage pie for her supper and freezing for future meals and a veggie equivalent for me using lentils and/or kidney beans. Sliced potatoes on top rather than mash because I'm not mashing the new potatoes I have from the veggie box. It means a mess tonight, but fast meals in the future.
Can you roast/bake the vegetables and cook your sister's fish en papillote or in foil on the same baking/roasting tin? And then your meat how you want?
I regularly use a muffin tin to cook a bean burger for me and a beef burger for the carnivore separately but using one dish, served with oven wedges of roots/potatoes and salad.
The best time to go shopping is 7:30pm on Thursdays just before the ‘clap the NHS’. There were three people and me shopping in Aldi at that time this week. It was good to have a relaxed shop - and I got home in time to clap!
The best time to go shopping is 7:30pm on Thursdays just before the ‘clap the NHS’. There were three people and me shopping in Aldi at that time this week. It was good to have a relaxed shop - and I got home in time to clap!
It's fair to say there weren't so many shoppers in the priority NHS hour at 6am the other morning.... Lots of shelf stackers mind you!
I haven’t been to a supermarket for several months, though I have managed the corner shop occasionally. We went into quarantine with covid symptoms a few days before lockdown and I haven’t been well enough since (my ‘moderate’ stay at home covid is still making me unwell after 6 1/2 weeks!). Prior to our enforced curfew I had broken my toe and was grounded for 6 weeks instead of my usual twice weekly walk to Waitrose.
On a brighter note, I feel a bit better since I started antibiotics for a presumed chest infection last week. I think my current shortness of breath is probably due to my post-viral postural tachycardia, which I’m learning to live with. I even managed a short walk outside earlier and I have been promised a drive to Waitrose!
But...but...6am, and 730pm, are at quite the Wrong Ends Of The Day for this Poor Old Git...!
Never mind - the local shops are fine at virtually any reasonable time of day (10am - 1pm for POGs).
ION, a beautiful day here - lots of warm sunshine (the Wash Ing is Dry Ing nicely), but with some quite spectacular cloud formations bubbling up.
I have found it necessary (O! What a hard life!) to sit on deck, drinking BEER, and saluting my social-distancing neighbours by waving my walking-stick in a friendly fashion, and shouting 'KEEP SAFE, AND STAY WELL!'
Off to (virtual) church in Scotland again tomorrow!
The Winco where I like to shop has "Senior Day" on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:00am-7:30am.
The first Thursday I went, I got there about 5:30 and there were already six people in line. By 6:00 the line had stretched around the corner.
The second Thursday, I got there earlier -- around 5:00 -- and waited in the car until others began to arrive. I still managed to be first in line, and again the line stretched around the corner.
The third Thursday, there was already an old gent in line at 5:00. Again, I waited in the car until others started to arrive, but the eventual line was considerably shorter. I noticed when I exited the store that there was no line waiting to get in. I asked the young man, stationed at the entrance to prevent young-'uns from crashing our Senior Day, if there was any point in arriving early. He said no, not unless I wanted paper products (of which I have a goodly supply).
The fourth Thursday, I got there around 6:15 and there was no line.
This week, thanks to light traffic and cooperative traffic signals, I arrived on the dot at 6:00 just as they were opening the gate. There were only six people in line. I said to the cashier that it seemed as though the allure of Senior Day had worn off. She said that the allure of getting up at 6:00 in the morning is what had worn off.
Exactly my point. Given the time it takes for some of us Poor Old Gits to get going of a morning, 'Senior Hour' would be better at (say) 12 noon - 1pm.
But that, of course, would be virtually impossible to police!
I'm not grumbling, or criticising, in any way. Our local shops and supermarkets have got themselves, on the whole, jolly well organised IME (I know some will disagree), so full marks to them.
I’ve just texted my son to tell him about the curries we are making with stuff we already have in the house. I managed to say we were having orca curry rather than okra!
Many years ago I had cause to notice elderly people , at 6 am queuing outside our inner city cornershop. Waiting for the shopkeeper to open up.
Apparently there were a few reasons
Already been awake for an hour or so and raring to get on with the day
Less likely to be mugged
But the one that I hadn’t realised until it was patiently explained to me was that many of the queue ers were susceptible to every bug and virus going.
So shopping Before the hoards and masses descended made perfect medical sense. As the gentleman remarked: “ I have to set my alarm for that. I go back to bed afterwards!”
Looking at the supermarket queues I often think of those early morning shoppers.....
@Piglet CK's suggestion of the segregated baking tray is a good one. Back in the days when I Cared I would put Mr F's helping of McCains Home Fries at one end and my sweet potato chips with za'atar at the other.
Otherwise I'd go for same accompaniment for both proteins - chips spring to mind. Potato gratin. Traybake of roast veg. Salad.
This being Saturday (I think) it's cocktail night, followed by steak with Stilton and chips. And a big red.
It was patiently explained to me was that many of the queuers were susceptible to every bug and virus going. So shopping before the hoards and masses descended made perfect medical sense. As the gentleman remarked: “ I have to set my alarm for that. I go back to bed afterwards!”
I never thought of it that way, but it does make perfect sense. I usually breakfast at home but take my coffee with me in the Amandamobile. I don't shower until I get home. I put on yesterday's clothes. Then, at home, after the groceries have been put away, I shower and put on fresh clothes for the day.
Don't be afraid to say 'Please keep your distance', or something to that effect. It's YOUR health, and you have the right to expect others to respect it, particularly under the present circumstances.
tbf, again, many people simply don't think...but that's common in many walks of life...
I am so incredibly tempted to COUGH in such circumstances...
Our local Tesco's has priority times for the elderly and for NHS workers 9am-10am, they alternate the days between elderly and NHS. I go at 6am as I'm always awake early anyway and I'm confident of the shelves being stocked.
I went up to our local shop this afternoon as we were getting low on necessaries - milk, bread and chocolate - and although it's marked out with a prescribed route around the shop and social distancing markers too it was worryingly relaxed up there with people getting too close and stopping for a natter. It's a sunny Saturday afternoon and people were probably feeling a bit chilled out but I felt pretty unsafe and was glad to get out of there. I suspect now there's talk of what coming out of lockdown might look like people are getting a bit complacent.
I’ve just texted my son to tell him about the curries we are making with stuff we already have in the house. I managed to say we were having orca curry rather than okra!
PETA & Greenpeace should be arriving at your door right about...now.
Comments
Having once eaten asparagus some years ago as part of a most delicious meal cooked by my Auntie Annie, I know whereof I speak.
Whilst we're on the subject, I imagine beetroot makes wee go red? I can't stand beetroot, so have no idea if this is True™.
Sorry to hear about your son @Boogie - hope he's better soon.
Has anyone heard from @Wesley J? He's not been on board for over a week.
I either steam it, grill it in butter (real, of course, not the colored fatty stuff they call margarine), or saute it in olive oil with a bit of garlic added.
* unlike me - one spear every six months is more than sufficient.
So what? Chillies can set your bottom on fire, doesn't stop you eating curries or Tex-Mex.
A squeeze of lemon, if you have any, just before serving is a nice touch.
O yes it does!
Not a hope, sorry. I'm liking the idea of roasted with poached egg & parmesan (I have no butter, but do have rapeseed oil...)
Sounds a bit like a weekend treat breakfast
Forgot to mention above -- asparagus is great folded into an omelet. Saute it a bit in butter before you add the eggs.
This happens to be National Asparagus Month in the US, I just found out.
That's asparagfefe to you, buddy-o.
Omelette was mentioned above... asparagus (precooked), mushrooms (sauteed), and brie, in an omelette, sided by a nice glass of white wine, and all is well with the world. I've never tried North American bacon, but I have used prosciutto, so bacon should be very good, too. When I saute asparagus, I often will give it a splash of white wine when it's about 2/3 cooked. As for herbs, I find that thyme or tarragon are very good friends to asparagus.
As to the strange odour asparagus produces in urine, I think that it's ~20% of the population do not suffer this. It has something to do with possessing a particular enzyme. This was explained to me once at a dinner party, too late in the evening for me to have retained the details.
I'm going to out myself as an oik here, as its possible other languages do this; but as I think I once mentioned elsewhere on the Ship, I've been using some lockdown time to start to learn Polish. Last night, having been battling manfully with a couple of different verb conjugations and masc./fem./neut. sing./pl. noun-and-adjective declension stuff, all vaguely expected from Latin and German taken at school long ago, I find out that if the verb has negation - 'nie' - then all the noun-and-adjective endings change! FFS...
I only wanted a few essentials (BEER, WINE - you know the sort of thing). In a narrow aisle, a Yoof tried to push past me. OI!, says I, TWO METRES!, brandishing my walking-stick at arm's length. He still tried to push past, so I shouted GO ROUND THE OTHER WAY!, which he obediently did, muttering Imprecations under his breath.
The shopkeeper caught my eye, and we both raised our eyebrows, and shrugged our shoulders...
tbf, I think that's the first time I've had to tell someone to keep their distance.
tbf, again, many people simply don't think...but that's common in many walks of life...
Miss Amanda generally does not discuss her bodily functions with strangers, but we're not really strangers here. She has noticed the odor that asparagus imparts to tinkle, but not the color,
It was just they had that bit fenced off for cleaning.
Anyway, I have my weekly trove: just to work out the meal plan - Liver and Clementine Surprise? Courgette in Chocolate Brioche? Stilton 'n' Samosa?
The Inventiveness is Terrific, as Hurree Jamset Ram Singh* would have said..
*from the Billy Bunter stories by Frank Richards:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greyfriars_School
(Apropos of nothing in particular, I have the Greyfriars Holiday Annual of 1924. An enlightening glimpse into the very different world of nearly a century ago...)
Then I got to a point where I decided I was quite happy to eat the same meal every day if necessary, and had no interest in going to Asda, and didn't want to go back until after lockdown. I get a fruit and veg box delivered every two weeks, which also has six eggs in it. I have meat, fish and bread in my freezer and rice and pasta and pulses in my cupboard.
I decided my staple would be nettles and wild garlic, because there is loads and loads of it in the woods, and I like going to the woods a hundred times more than going to Asda. So I am having nettle and wild garlic omelette, and nettle and wild garlic macaroni cheese, and nettle and wild garlic stir fry, and nettle and wild garlic flat bread.
I shall muse further on the subject while ambling, as it's 15° and a sunny day.
We had fun last night in the form of a virtual quiz devised by my nephew, which I think S. and I managed to win, although I don't know how, as many of our guesses ended up being wrong ...
Apparently virtual Monopoly is on the cards for this evening.
@fineline - I sort of see what you mean. I was OK with going to Tesco, and perhaps queuing for maybe 10 minutes or so, but I really don't want to do even that again, unless I have to.
Luckily, I have 2-3 corner shops within fairly easy reach, and, if I time it right, there are no queues. Between them, they have just about all I want/need.
I'll take a rain-check on the nettles, though, unless you can provide Nettle WINE or BEER...
Can you roast/bake the vegetables and cook your sister's fish en papillote or in foil on the same baking/roasting tin? And then your meat how you want?
I regularly use a muffin tin to cook a bean burger for me and a beef burger for the carnivore separately but using one dish, served with oven wedges of roots/potatoes and salad.
It's fair to say there weren't so many shoppers in the priority NHS hour at 6am the other morning.... Lots of shelf stackers mind you!
On a brighter note, I feel a bit better since I started antibiotics for a presumed chest infection last week. I think my current shortness of breath is probably due to my post-viral postural tachycardia, which I’m learning to live with. I even managed a short walk outside earlier and I have been promised a drive to Waitrose!
Never mind - the local shops are fine at virtually any reasonable time of day (10am - 1pm for POGs).
ION, a beautiful day here - lots of warm sunshine (the Wash Ing is Dry Ing nicely), but with some quite spectacular cloud formations bubbling up.
I have found it necessary (O! What a hard life!) to sit on deck, drinking BEER, and saluting my social-distancing neighbours by waving my walking-stick in a friendly fashion, and shouting 'KEEP SAFE, AND STAY WELL!'
Off to (virtual) church in Scotland again tomorrow!
The first Thursday I went, I got there about 5:30 and there were already six people in line. By 6:00 the line had stretched around the corner.
The second Thursday, I got there earlier -- around 5:00 -- and waited in the car until others began to arrive. I still managed to be first in line, and again the line stretched around the corner.
The third Thursday, there was already an old gent in line at 5:00. Again, I waited in the car until others started to arrive, but the eventual line was considerably shorter. I noticed when I exited the store that there was no line waiting to get in. I asked the young man, stationed at the entrance to prevent young-'uns from crashing our Senior Day, if there was any point in arriving early. He said no, not unless I wanted paper products (of which I have a goodly supply).
The fourth Thursday, I got there around 6:15 and there was no line.
This week, thanks to light traffic and cooperative traffic signals, I arrived on the dot at 6:00 just as they were opening the gate. There were only six people in line. I said to the cashier that it seemed as though the allure of Senior Day had worn off. She said that the allure of getting up at 6:00 in the morning is what had worn off.
Exactly my point. Given the time it takes for some of us Poor Old Gits to get going of a morning, 'Senior Hour' would be better at (say) 12 noon - 1pm.
But that, of course, would be virtually impossible to police!
I'm not grumbling, or criticising, in any way. Our local shops and supermarkets have got themselves, on the whole, jolly well organised IME (I know some will disagree), so full marks to them.
Apparently there were a few reasons
Already been awake for an hour or so and raring to get on with the day
Less likely to be mugged
But the one that I hadn’t realised until it was patiently explained to me was that many of the queue ers were susceptible to every bug and virus going.
So shopping Before the hoards and masses descended made perfect medical sense. As the gentleman remarked: “ I have to set my alarm for that. I go back to bed afterwards!”
Looking at the supermarket queues I often think of those early morning shoppers.....
Otherwise I'd go for same accompaniment for both proteins - chips spring to mind. Potato gratin. Traybake of roast veg. Salad.
This being Saturday (I think) it's cocktail night, followed by steak with Stilton and chips. And a big red.
I never thought of it that way, but it does make perfect sense. I usually breakfast at home but take my coffee with me in the Amandamobile. I don't shower until I get home. I put on yesterday's clothes. Then, at home, after the groceries have been put away, I shower and put on fresh clothes for the day.
I am so incredibly tempted to COUGH in such circumstances...
I went up to our local shop this afternoon as we were getting low on necessaries - milk, bread and chocolate - and although it's marked out with a prescribed route around the shop and social distancing markers too it was worryingly relaxed up there with people getting too close and stopping for a natter. It's a sunny Saturday afternoon and people were probably feeling a bit chilled out but I felt pretty unsafe and was glad to get out of there. I suspect now there's talk of what coming out of lockdown might look like people are getting a bit complacent.
PETA & Greenpeace should be arriving at your door right about...now.