Tips for Asparagus

April 7, 2012Katie

I think I’ve eaten more asparagus this spring than I’ve ever eaten in my life combined.  I’ve fallen in love with this vegetable.

Big surprise since I fall in love with every vegetable.


It occurred to me the other day, that instead of fumbling with each stalk of asparagus, snapping off one stalk and then trying to line up each of the other stalks to chop them off with my knife evenly, that there might be a better way.

I guess for those of you who haven’t fixed asparagus, I should explain.

The bottom part of the stalk is usually tough and becomes hard to chew if left on for cooking.  Some people peel it with a peeler, but I usually just snap them off.  When you bend them, wherever they break down at that end is usually the perfect spot to trim them at.

So on to the better way.

Enter the blue rubber bands that bind my asparagus together.

 

I thought to myself, why not just leave them on to trim my asparagus?

So I snapped off one lone stalk to see where it snapped at.

And then I just chopped the rest of the stalks off at the same point, with my asparagus still bound up in the rubber bands.

Then I removed the bands and tossed them all in a colander to give them a quick rinse.

In honor of the A-Team movie coming out this week….

“I just love it when a plan comes together”.

P.S. My favorite way to cook asparagus is to drizzle a little olive oil over it, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.  Put it in a 400º oven for 10-15 minutes.

I like mine with some snap to them.  It seems, the longer you cook asparagus, the more chance of stringiness you get.

View a couple of my recipes using asparagus by clicking on the links or photos below:

Roasted Asparagus with Ginger-Soy-Sesame Dressing

Asp1

Chicken Cutlets in Asparagus Pesto Cream Sauce (One of my personal favs)

chicken asparagus cream sauce

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