How to make better asparagus

It’s starting to be asparagus season again and you know what that means: bowls of mushy, bitter green stuff that literally shreds anytime you try to hit it with a fork.  Children scream, napkins fill up with half-chewed food, and the faint of heart… faint.  Hooray asparagus season!

Perhaps the perils of poorly cooked asparagus are a bit overstated, but frankly asparagus is one of those vegetables that does very well when cooked well and is just awful if not cooked poorly.  So the question is, how do you cook asparagus properly?  Thanks for asking!  You can steam it, but blanching asparagus cooks it perfectly and quickly.

If you are not familiar with blanching, it’s very simple. 

1. Get out a wide pot or skillet with high sides.
2. Fill the pot with just enough salted water to completely cover the amount of asparagus you want to cook.
3. Bring the water to boil over high heat. 
4. Once it’s boiling, reduce the heat to medium.
5. Cook the asparagus for three to four minutes or until the asparagus is al dente. 
6. Remove from the water and immediately plunge it into an ice bath to stop the cooking process.

Note: if you skip the last step, the asparagus will lose its color and get mushy.

After blanching, you can eat the asparagus as is, you can stir fry it, or you can even bread it and fry it.  However, for a quick appetizer everyone will love, wrap the asparagus in thinly sliced ham and serve with bleu cheese dressing.

Still, no matter how you end up serving asparagus, just make sure you blanch it first.  It won’t overcook the asparagus and blanching makes the asparagus easier to incorporate into other dishes.

One other thing.  Don’t even think about boiling.  Down that path lies mush!