Steamed Asparagus
Asparagus tends to suffer from
two things; over-cooking and stringy skin.
Like most vegetables it's at its best when lightly cooked and
boiling it, even by standing it upright, is not the way to
go.
The first thing to do is to snap off - not cut - the bit at the
stalk end which tends to be woody and fibrous. Simply hold the
asparagus between the finger and thumb of both hands and bend
it. It will snap off at exactly the right place.
Keep the broken off bits to flavor soup.
The flowering heads are delicate, but not so delicate that they
can't be washed. Asparagus grows by pushing its spears up
through the soil, so some grit is bound to be collected along
the way. Rinse the heads thoroughly and under running water, if
at all possible.
Now use a potato peeler to peel each stalk, starting about an
inch below the flowering head. You can also keep these peelings
for flavoring a sauce or soup. They'll freeze okay.
You can now steam the vegetable whole if you are serving it as
an appetizer, or cut it into bite-sized pieces to add to pasta
etc.
In a microwave, steaming will take from 2 to 3 minutes on full
if you start out with hot water in your steamer. At the end of
this the asparagus will be cooked but still retain texture and
its shape.
Allow about 5 minutes in a top-of-the-stove steamer, once the
steam starts to rise.
As an appetizer, asparagus is traditionally served with melted
butter and salt, but you don't have to limit yourself to that.
It will work equally well with a wide variety of sauces
including hollandaise or a warm vinaigrette.
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