Roasted Asparagus

We're now deep into Spring here, and you know what that means, right? As much asparagus as we can stuff into ourselves! Ever since I read about roasting asparagus a few years ago, it has become pretty much the only way I cook it, because the roasting concentrates the delicious sweetness of the stalk. Added bonuses about this method are: no nutrients or flavors are lost to the cooking water, it's harder to overcook to that unappealing khaki green stage, and your stovetop is free to make the main course while the vegetable cooks. But wait, there's more - if you fry a couple of eggs and put them on top, you have a main course, too!

Roasted Asparagus

As much asparagus as you want to eat (choose the freshest, firmest stalks you can find)
Olive oil
Coarse sea salt
Fresh ground pepper

optional: fresh eggs

Preheat the oven to 450 F.

Wash and dry the asparagus, and, holding the center of the stalk in one hand and the cut end in the other, bend the cut end until it snaps off. (Save the ends for the Total Cheapskate's Cream of Asparagus Soup recipe in the next post!)

Heap the asparagus on a rimmed baking sheet, and drizzle olive oil all over it. Using your hands, make sure that each spear is coated with the olive oil. Spread the asparagus out on the baking pan in a single layer (use an additional pan as needed). Sprinkle generously with the sea salt - don't be shy, most of it will fall off during cooking, as well as a generous grind of black pepper.

Put the baking dish in the center of the oven, and roast until just tender; if a fork easily pierces the stalks, it is done. This takes about 15-20 minutes, depending on how fat and/or cold the asparagus is.

If you are making a main course of this, fry two eggs per person. Season them well with salt and pepper, and cook until the whites are set and some portion of the yolk is still liquid. The yolks make a nice sauce which coats the stalks. If you like, you can sprinkle some freshly grated parmesan on as well.

Notes from Christine: "Why am I snapping the ends of the stalks instead of using my chef's knife?" Your goal is eliminate the tough, fibrous, inedible parts of the stalk, while not wasting any of the tender parts. Each stalk has an invisible line that separates tough from tender; it is in a different spot on each stalk. When you snap it, it naturally breaks in exactly the right spot.

Total Cheapskate Asparagus Soup

My step-grandmother, Edda, was the ch - oops, excuse me, the most frugal person I've ever met in my life - and that is saying plenty. (I come from a long line of Yankees and Germans, so I know what I'm talking about!) When she died and we went through her cupboards, we found that she had the largest collection of used tin foil, saran wrap, rubber bands, jars, cans, and waxed paper known in the civilized world. God, I miss her.

So one of the things she turned me on to was how to use the cast-off ends of the asparagus spears to make a lovely soup. You know how you have to bend them at the base until the tough parts snap off? Doesn't it just kill you to throw away all of that "perfectly good asparagus?" It does me! So, here you are, about to roast four pounds of organic, early season local asparagus. Even at bargain prices you'd be pitching over $5 worth of asparagus into the compost heap.

Fortunately, you saved the snapped off tips when you made the roasted asparagus, as I recommended, yes? So here's what to do with them: (and you can do this while the asparagus roasts, and then bag the results aside in the fridge to make the soup for tomorrow's lunch, btw).... but, back to the matter at hand:

Using the sharpest chef's knife you have, slice off the least bit of the old, cut end that you can easily cut through; the goal is to eliminate what is too tough to eat, but to save as much of the stalk as possible for the soup. If it's too tough to cut fairly easily, move your knife up the piece and try again until you can. One of the clues you will get is how much of the stalk has turned purplish-white; the more it trends towards that color, the more likely it is to be very tough. A few pieces will be so tough that they go straight into the compost, along with the cast-off trimmings.

Take the remaining piece of stalk, and using a vegetable peeler, peel off the skin very thinly all the way around. Yes, this all takes a little while, but if you are frugal, and it's nice asparagus, it's worth it, right?

Once you have finished your trimming and peeling, chop up what you have left crosswise into lengths of about 1/4 - 1/2" inches.

Now, put the proceeds into a saucepan big enough to hold it with room to spare, and fill it just to cover with chicken or vegetable broth. (I like to use Better Than Bouillon Organic; very tasty and very convenient. It comes in a jar, and you use a teaspoon per cup of water. I use a generous teaspoonful for this.)

Put the pan over medium heat and boil the asparagus until it is just tender. Then, using either an immersion blender (my favorite - it's this wand thingie that you use to blend right in the pan) or a regular blender or food processor, whirl it up until it's pureed; it's okay if there are a few chunks left for texture. Now, add just enough heavy cream to make it all come together in luxury, and season it to taste with freshly ground pepper (and salt, if you need more) and whirl it up until it's all blended. Check and adjust the seasoning, as needed.

Voila! Total Cheapskate's Asparagus Soup. (Frankly, I will often make a batch while everyone is out of the house, and eat the whole thing for my lunch. Yum.)