Asparagus on My Mind

Sarah's Corner

Until last night I thought I’d make it through next week without buying asparagus.

I’ve been trying to pare down my time spent thinking about, buying and preparing food. We subscribed to a CSA farm box, and I decided to go to the Alemany farmer’s market every other week. I wince imagining my flat of eggs running out in the refrigerator, and buying a few non-local, less juicy apples at our local grocer, but my time is precious these days so I wanted to reclaim a few hours of my Saturday morning.

Back to the asparagus. The season is so tantalizingly brief, and asparagus are so easy to prepare. They work alongside pasta, chicken, in risotto. Maybe part of the pull is the thought of only a few precious weeks of asparagus each year. But I thought I could skip this coming week. Then I tried the most amazing, crunchy, grilled, juicy asparagus recipe, and now I can’t stop thinking about those stalks. The best part is that the recipe takes only 12 minutes, one or two knife swipes, basic ingredients, and your home stovetop.

Pan Roasted Asparagus

Wash and chop bottoms off a bunch of asparagus.
Heat up a 12” skillet (I used my favorite cast iron) at medium high heat with one tablespoon butter and one tablespoon olive oil.
Add asparagus, with half the tops in each direction. Cover for 5 minutes.
Uncover, add salt and pepper, raise heat to high. Cook 5-7 minutes, rotating asparagus towards center of the pan.

The asparagus come out tasting grilled, and brilliantly flavorful.

I got this recipe from Cook’s Illustrated, which is my latest cooking obsession. They tested this recipe with all kinds of variations and settled on this version. I have to concur, it’s perfect.

I might just have to buy three bunches this Saturday.