I just returned from Tuscany and the white asparagus season has started in Germany. Time for the classic asparagus salad and also asparagus with butter/olive oil and parmesan at casa Zwick this weekend.
Ingredients
800g white asparagus
1 bunch radish
250g cherry tomatoes
Piccandou - goat cream cheese, each 40g (1 per dish)
chives
2 tbsp white vinegar (Agrodolce Bianco by Giusti from Modena) or tarragon vinegar
7-8 tbsp olive oil
Preparation
First peel the asparagus and chopp each asparagus in 4 pieces
2. Cook the asparagus pieces in salty water incl. 1tsp sugar for 12min or less if you prefer.
3. Chopp the radish in quarters and halve the cherry tomatoes. Also chopp the chive
4. Sieve the asparagus pieces and let it cool down
5. Add radish, tomatoes to a salad bowl. Also asparagus pieces and chives. Now add the vinegar, oil and salt&pepper. Combine everything.
6. Put on a plate, drizzle with 1 Piccandou each dish and finally drizzle with more chives on top
Martin, if you have the garden space, asparagus is worth the patience to grow. Until I grew my own, I had no idea that asparagus, cooked literally within five minutes of cutting the spear, could be so sweet. I guess it is like corn–once harvested the sugars begin turning into starch. My first home-grown asparagus were like sticks of candy, they were so sweet. Definitely no need for added sugar in the cooking!
Mia, I assume you are talking about green asparagus?! Green asparagus needs indeed only 5-6-7min. White asparagus is different, but fair to say I am poaching asparagus much longer than other German would do, but this is tradition at casa Zwick. Most German cook white asparagus only around 15min.
Yes, green asparagus, because I am too lazy to grow white asparagus (which I also like, but on the whole I prefer the added flavour from the chlorophyll.
Freshly picked, my asparagus can be eaten raw, it is so sweet. But I usually cook it very briefly, about 3 minutes, no more.
Would you need to peel the asparagus if it is green? I grow my own and agree with other posters that it is fresh and sweet right out of the ground. I have no experience with the white variety. What are the pros and cons?
I grow my own asparagus and don’t peel the spears–I use the old trick of snapping the spears where they turn fibrous and that has worked well for me. From garden bed to cooked and served in less than half an hour…the sweetness and freshness can’t be beat!
Many years ago I worked with a biologist who, when I commented on the antique ring she was wearing, said that it was something she had inherited from her aunt who was named Asparagine (which is also the name for a naturally occurring amino acid). One has to wonder why that name was inflicted on her.
