When we first moved to the country and had enough room in our garden, we decided to plant an asparagus patch. It tasted great, and after the first year, there was little work involved. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into—hours of digging deep into our garden soil, mud and muck all over our clothes, and necessary acrobatics to finish the job.
While the thirty foot patch fed us and our extended family for twenty years, from my list below you’ll get an idea of our asparagus adventure!
50 Great Things to Do with Asparagus
1-admire it (in seed catalogues)
2-research how to prepare, plant and grow it
3-taste it
4-select a variety
5-buy it
6-dig and prepare the ground for it
7-dig deeper
8-add spiritual note to digging: “Best place to find God is a garden—you can dig for Him there.” GBShaw
9-dig deeper
10-soak the roots
11-make mounds in bottom of trench
12-plant the roots on them
13-cover them up with tons of soil
14-water them
15-wait for three years—or did it just seem that long?
16-pick them
17-pick out recipes
18-roast ‘em
19-blanche ‘em
20-admire them
21-steam them
22-saute them
23-grill them
24 make sandwiches of them
25-to clean, snap off tough bottoms of spears, rinse under cool water and peel off lower scales
26-freeze them
27-make designs with them on potato salad
28-try any of the next ten recipes
29-Spread trimmed white bread with butter on both sides, lay on 4 half spears, piece of ham, dab
of mustard, roll up and lay in flat casserole—cook 15 minutes until lightly browned
30-Brush cleaned spears with olive oil and roast in 400o oven 10-15 minutes. Drizzle with lemon
juice
31-Brush spears with olive oil and grill on outdoor grill until lightly browned. Serve with
vinaigrette
32-Chop raw, cleaned asparagus into a mixed tossed salad
33-Steam until barely fork tender; serve with blender Hollandaise
34-Steam, trim to 3 inch lengths. Toss with buttered crumbs and angel hair pasta
35-Blanch 2 inch pieces briefly, then toss with crumbled, cooked bacon and blue cheese over
baked potato halves
36-Roll blanched pieces into flounder filets, with sautéed shallot and garlic mixture and jack
cheese—then bake for 20 minutes
37-Boil I lb. in cup chicken broth, cool and whiz in blender.For soup add light or heavy cream,
tarragon
38-Cook in any way shape or form with chicken—always goes great
39-give them away
40-burn the ferns next spring
41-then feed them
42 hunt for new ones
43 admire them
44 take pictures of them
45 start picking them again
46 smoke them
47 cook them for breakfast-blanched and chopped into an omelet with soft cheese
48 cook them for lunch, using leftover spears in your grilled cheese sandwiches
49 cook them for dinner with real Hollandaise
50 thank God for them
Amen!
