How to cook asparagus: recipes and useful tips

The asparagus season traditionally opens in May. Therefore, such a vegetable can be considered one of the very first that are available to us fresh. It is difficult to exaggerate its benefits, therefore, to know how to cook asparagus is simply necessary for every self-respecting housewife. In this article, we will provide several recipes that are simple and useful at the same time.

Beneficial features

Asparagus (asparagus) contains many useful substances, including:

• Vitamins A, C, E, K and a complex of vitamins B.
• Dietary fiber.
• Copper.
• Magnesium.
• Manganese.
• Folic acid.
• Thiamine.
• Carotene.

The presented list is far from complete. Eating asparagus helps energize, relieve symptoms of vitamin deficiency, as well as cheer up. Separately, it is worth noting the beneficial effect on blood vessels and the heart, preventing blood clots and regulating blood coagulation. The high content of carotene in the composition helps prevent various types of cancer.

Asparagus is low in calories, which is why people like it that way. Both fresh and frozen asparagus are beneficial.

Types of Asparagus

There are two types of asparagus:

• white
• green.

The peculiarity of white asparagus is that it grows underground, which is why it does not receive sunlight. This is due to the white color. In addition, the shoots of such asparagus are slightly more tender than the shoots of a green vegetable that reaches for the sun. The advantage of green asparagus is that it contains several more vitamins. Both types are very useful.

Culinary Tricks

There are several secrets in cooking that will answer the question of how to cook asparagus so that it is not only tasty, but also retains all the useful qualities to the maximum.

1. The length of the shoots is the most important thing you should pay attention to when buying asparagus. The most delicious ones are 15-16 cm long.
2. To understand where the rough place of a plant begins, try breaking it down. It is in this place that you need to trim the stem, leaving only the most delicious part of the vegetable.
3. A potato peeler is used for cleaning. White asparagus is peeled exclusively under the tip. Green is cleaned down from the middle of the stem.
4. Before using asparagus, be sure to blanch. To do this, boil the vegetables in salted boiling water for 5 minutes.
5. The most common cooking method is to make asparagus stalks bundle together and then dip into boiling water. So the tops will look a little out of the water, steaming. This is the best way to ensure that asparagus is cooked evenly. It is no secret that the thick parts of the stem boil much longer than the tender tops.
6. You can improve the taste of asparagus with the help of lemon juice, which must be added to the water during cooking.
7. Immediately after the asparagus is ready, you need to send it to ice water. This manipulation will make the vegetables more crispy and keep their color.

How and with what to combine asparagus?

Asparagus is considered a universal product. It does not have too pronounced taste, due to which it can become an excellent side dish for scrambled eggs, meat and serve as an excellent addition to various hot dishes. Also using asparagus make great salads and pies.

Often appears and a simple serving of boiled asparagus with cream sauce. There are a lot of cooking options for the sauce, but Dutch is most often used.

A simple cooking method and a rich composition of useful elements helped asparagus to become the queen of vegetables for the Western world.

Every housewife knows how to cook young asparagus, because young shoots of plants, the length of which does not exceed 16 centimeters, are most often used. Salted water is used for its preparation. Five minutes will be enough for cooking. Old vegetables are not suitable for eating because they are tasteless and tough.

Cooking Asparagus Right

Just before cooking, asparagus must be thoroughly washed and cleaned. During cleansing, it is necessary to move to the thickest part of the stem, starting from the thinnest. With a sharp knife, the skin is cut off, after which the plant needs to be washed again.

There are 3 options for cooking asparagus:

1. In salted boiling water for 5 minutes. Water is poured in such a way that it completely covers the asparagus and is even about 3 centimeters higher than it.
2. Boil asparagus shoots tied in bunches. As a thread, plant stems or any greens can be used. Bunches are placed vertically in a pot. The thicker portion is lowered and the water does not cover the asparagus whole. The tops in this way are steamed.
3. In a double boiler. The most useful way to cook asparagus.

After cooking, you must immediately send the vegetables to ice water. As an alternative, asparagus can be thrown into a colander and put under cold running water. Thanks to this, not only most vitamins will be preserved, but also a beautiful emerald color.

Asparagus minestrone soup

To prepare a healthy asparagus soup, you need to prepare the following components:

• Green asparagus - 250-300 grams.
• Bulb.
• Eggplant.
• Zucchini.
• Carrot.
• Garlic - 1-2 cloves.
• Macaroni - 100 grams in dry form will be enough.
• Olive oil - about 3 tbsp. l
• Cream cheese - 50 grams.
• Vegetable broth (you can use chicken) - 1.5 liters.
• Salt.

Stages of preparation:

1. The first step is to prepare the vegetables. To do this, finely chop the onion and chop the garlic, cut off the thick parts of the stem from the asparagus. Carrots, zucchini and eggplant must be cut into not very large cubes.
2. Heat olive oil in a saucepan, in which sauté the garlic and onions until they turn golden. To this frying, add prepared vegetables (carrots, eggplant and asparagus) and fry them for 5 minutes. After pour the vegetables in the broth and send them zucchini.
3. Once the soup boils, add the pasta to it and cook for 10 minutes.

Before serving the soup, sprinkle it with grated cream cheese.

Asparagus, Rosemary and Bacon Salad

To prepare a dish, you need the following ingredients:

• Asparagus - 200 g.
• Bacon - 150 g.
• Lemon - 1/4 pcs.
• Rosemary (a few branches will be enough).
• Olive oil - approximately 1 tablespoon
• Pepper and salt are added to taste.

Cooking asparagus salad includes the following steps:

1. Wash the asparagus and cut off the hard ends from it, and then blanch for 2-3 minutes. Then cut it into not very large pieces.
2. Chop rosemary.
3. Fry the bacon until golden brown, after cutting it into small plates.
4. Mix all the prepared ingredients, salt and pepper. It is recommended to season with olive oil mixed with a small amount of lemon juice.

Typically, this salad is served with brown bread.

Grilled: preparing healthy and delicious asparagus

Grilled asparagus is a dish that cooks very quickly and is incredibly healthy. For him we need:

• Fresh Asparagus - 450 g
• Olive oil - approximately 4 tablespoons
• Coarse salt - 1 tsp will be enough

You need to adhere to such steps during cooking:

1. The first step is to prepare the asparagus. Cut the lower ends with a knife, and then put the asparagus in a plastic bag and pour oil. Mix the products thoroughly and salt. Leave the asparagus to marinate until cooking begins.
2. Heat the grill well, then put asparagus on it. Usually this is done cross to cross, so vegetables will not roll.
3. Fry for 10-15 minutes, turning over if necessary. At the top, the vegetables should lightly brown.
4. After removing from the grill, asparagus should be served immediately.

Thus prepared asparagus has a calorie content of 150 kcal.

Korean Asparagus

Making Korean asparagus at home is easy. For this we need:

• soya asparagus - 200 grams;
• garlic - 2-3 small cloves;
• rice vinegar - 5 tbsp;
• carrots - 2 pcs. (choose medium juicy vegetables);
• sugar - 1 tbsp;
• Bay leaf;
• vegetable oil - 100 ml;
• salt, pepper (red and black) to taste.

How to cook asparagus? Cooking includes the following steps:

1. They pre-soak it for several hours to make it softer. After that, cut the asparagus into small pieces.
2. Carrots should be grated.
3. Chop the garlic.
4. Mix in one dish all the ingredients prepared in the previous steps.
5. We prepare a dressing of salt, pepper and sugar, which are mixed with vegetable oil.
6. Put vegetables on the fire, pre-fill them with water. After the water boils, add vinegar and bay leaf. Drain and refuel. Mix thoroughly and refrigerate for 4 hours.

Korean-style pickled asparagus will certainly appeal to everyone.

Baked Flavored Asparagus

To make baked asparagus you need:

• Fresh asparagus - 900 grams.
• Olive oil.
• Salt (you need to use large).
• Pepper.

When considering how to cook asparagus according to this recipe, you need to understand that cooking includes the following steps:

1. First of all, you need to preheat the oven to 205 degrees.
2. Then I prepare the vegetables. Frozen asparagus is not used in this dish, so choose fresh. Hard ends must be broken off and stripped. Put the shoots on a baking sheet, sprinkled with olive oil. Determine the amount of olive oil as it covers all vegetables.
3. Gently spread the asparagus on a baking sheet in one layer, sprinkling with pepper and salt.
4. Bake at the indicated temperature for approximately 25 minutes. During this time, vegetables should become slightly crispy and very tender.

Pickled Scented Asparagus

The classic recipe involves the preparation of pickled asparagus from green shoots of asparagus (this is also called asparagus).

For cooking, you need 250 grams of asparagus. And for the marinade you need:

• 0.5 cup apple cider vinegar;
• half a tablespoon of salt and sugar;
• 0.5 tsp pea;
• 1 tsp vegetable oil;
• half a tablespoon of dill seeds;
• clove of garlic.

Preparation includes the following steps:

1. Cut off the harsh portion from the asparagus. After that, clean the shoots with a knife, sending vegetables for several minutes in boiling water, and then immediately into ice water. By the way, if you use young asparagus, then it does not need to be cleaned. You can just wash and scald with boiling water in a colander.
2. When the shoots of asparagus have dried up, they need to be folded with spears up in a sterile liter jar.
3. Preparing the marinade. At this stage, it is necessary to slightly heat the vinegar, and then dissolve the sugar and salt in it. Send sliced ​​garlic, dill and pepper to the mixture, and add oil. No need to bring the marinade to a boil. Once it is warm enough, remove it from the stove and pour it into a jar of shoots so that the solution completely covers the vegetables. Put the closed jar in the refrigerator for 6 hours.

Now you know how to cook asparagus in various ways, so you can diversify your diet with dishes from this healthy vegetable.