Author Topic: Asparagus  (Read 6366 times)

Wowbagger

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Asparagus
« on: 09 May, 2008, 07:48:16 pm »
Our local supplier has his sign out.

Bought a couple of pounds today ... marvellous!
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Re: Asparagus
« Reply #1 on: 09 May, 2008, 07:54:06 pm »
I had a pile of this for lunch today.

It doesn't half have odd side effects, though.  :-[

Mrs Pingu

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Re: Asparagus
« Reply #2 on: 09 May, 2008, 07:56:26 pm »
pooh!  ;D
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

Re: Asparagus
« Reply #3 on: 09 May, 2008, 07:58:16 pm »
I really don't get Asparagus. It's not that I hate it, I can eat it, but I just don't see what people rave about. Can someone try explaining what is so marvellous about it and why people rave about it more than they do say cauliflowers please.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

Elleigh

Re: Asparagus
« Reply #4 on: 09 May, 2008, 07:58:35 pm »
It's lovely with boiled eggs

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
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Re: Asparagus
« Reply #5 on: 09 May, 2008, 08:01:27 pm »
Mrs. Wow likes it for the aphrodisiac effect...  ::-)
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Re: Asparagus
« Reply #6 on: 09 May, 2008, 08:06:50 pm »

Re: Asparagus
« Reply #7 on: 09 May, 2008, 08:13:58 pm »
This year I discovered roasting for cooking asparagus.
Get an ovenproof dish, lightly coat the asparagus with olive oil and some balsamic glaze (you can buy this in Tesco, or use balsamic vinegar).
Roast for 10 to 15 minutes in a hot oven. Mmmmm.

rogerzilla

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Re: Asparagus
« Reply #8 on: 09 May, 2008, 08:15:44 pm »
You have to eat a lot to get green pee.  You only need a smidgen to get very smelly pee, though  :sick:
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Woofage

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Re: Asparagus
« Reply #9 on: 09 May, 2008, 08:18:53 pm »
I bought a bunch at our local market on Weds (as I have been doing for the past few weeks).

Grilled with cherry toms (£1 a huge bag :)) and serve with spaghetti. Dee-lish!
Pen Pusher

alchemy

Re: Asparagus
« Reply #10 on: 10 May, 2008, 02:13:30 am »
It's lovely chopped and used in a stir-fry  :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

I think it's at its best when the stalks are thin and green from the top to the bottom

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Asparagus
« Reply #11 on: 10 May, 2008, 11:03:43 am »
We have 'accidental' asparagus in our garden.
We eat it young, green and raw.
It is sometimes very thin.
Sometimes I munch it before it gets as far as the kitchen; food inches, not food miles...

Re: Asparagus
« Reply #12 on: 10 May, 2008, 12:43:36 pm »
I really don't get Asparagus. It's not that I hate it, I can eat it, but I just don't see what people rave about. Can someone try explaining what is so marvellous about it and why people rave about it more than they do say cauliflowers please.

Me too, I don't know what's all the fuss about, I can take it or leave it.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Asparagus
« Reply #13 on: 10 May, 2008, 12:48:16 pm »
I really don't get Asparagus. It's not that I hate it, I can eat it, but I just don't see what people rave about. Can someone try explaining what is so marvellous about it and why people rave about it more than they do say cauliflowers please.

Me too, I don't know what's all the fuss about, I can take it or leave.

I don't really 'get' asparagus from other sources either.

Grazing from the garden is somehow different. The asparagus I eat is very fresh and very tender. I never buy it though.

Tinned asparagus is horrid!

Pete

Re: Asparagus
« Reply #14 on: 10 May, 2008, 02:13:19 pm »
As with all 'unusual' vegetables with a subtle flavour, it will have its admirers - and detractors.  I'm quite fond of the green variety sold in Britain - in season.  Its side-effects are - well - temporary   :-[ !   Also, I think it should only be eaten in season and foregone at other times of the year.  Like strawberries (in my opinion, at any rate).

In France, on the other hand, people seem to favour the blanched, white, thick-stemmed variety: that's what you see in the supermarkets.  We have found those to be inferior in flavour, and tend to give them a miss.  One of the few instances where I think I can rightfully claim "British is Best"!

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Asparagus
« Reply #15 on: 10 May, 2008, 03:58:42 pm »
I really should have sent you asparagus hunting last night...

Really Ancien

Re: Asparagus
« Reply #16 on: 10 May, 2008, 04:52:26 pm »
I really don't get Asparagus. It's not that I hate it, I can eat it, but I just don't see what people rave about. Can someone try explaining what is so marvellous about it and why people rave about it more than they do say cauliflowers please.

Asparagus is significant because it is the first  green growth to emerge in the new season. We are spoiled in our world of frozen, tinned and air freighted food. But our ancestors would eat hawthorn leaf buds for the vitamin C after the winter famine. The fact that asparagus is so very phallic only reinforces its place in the May fertility rites. The Germans go mad for white Asparagus or Spargel. I like asparagus in a white sauce with Salmon. The effect it has on the smell of urine is, I have always understood, a genetic differentiation like tongue rolling. It only affects a proportion of the population. http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/270901

Damon.

Re: Asparagus
« Reply #17 on: 10 May, 2008, 05:33:56 pm »
That makes some kind of sense. I can see where the mystic comes from in that case.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

Re: Asparagus
« Reply #18 on: 10 May, 2008, 07:45:46 pm »
I really don't get Asparagus. It's not that I hate it, I can eat it, but I just don't see what people rave about. Can someone try explaining what is so marvellous about it and why people rave about it more than they do say cauliflowers please.

Asparagus is significant because it is the first  green growth to emerge in the new season. We are spoiled in our world of frozen, tinned and air freighted food. But our ancestors would eat hawthorn leaf buds for the vitamin C after the winter famine. The fact that asparagus is so very phallic only reinforces its place in the May fertility rites. The Germans go mad for white Asparagus or Spargel. I like asparagus in a white sauce with Salmon. The effect it has on the smell of urine is, I have always understood, a genetic differentiation like tongue rolling. It only affects a proportion of the population. http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/270901

Damon.

I'm of the group afflicted by methyl mercaptan....but it's worth suffering for the delicious sparrow-gras

Re: Asparagus
« Reply #19 on: 10 May, 2008, 09:28:27 pm »
We've been able to get it for the last month - first 2 weeks were polytunnel grown, but English, second 2 weeks also English, outdoor but not defined as to where from - today was the fist time the local was in (Ivinghoe, Bucks) - £3.95 for a good bunch. Cooked risotto primavera tonight - with aspragus, broad beans, and the last shoots of purple sprouting, yum!
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Rebellious

Re: Asparagus
« Reply #20 on: 13 May, 2008, 06:05:06 pm »
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... it's for sale here and it's fantastic... however you cook it (or indeed, as Helly says, don't.)

Re: Asparagus
« Reply #21 on: 13 May, 2008, 06:08:20 pm »
Prompted by this thread, I picked up a bunch in Sainsbo's today, and promptly put it back again.

It was from the USA.

WTF, if it's in season here??

border-rider

Re: Asparagus
« Reply #22 on: 13 May, 2008, 06:09:04 pm »
They've had Wye Valley asparagus at our local market for a few weeks now. 

Re: Asparagus
« Reply #23 on: 16 May, 2008, 03:51:55 pm »
There is a big bunch of asparagus sitting on my desk, waiting to be taken home for dinner. Also a bag of Jersey Royal potatoes. Very springtime food!

Elleigh

Re: Asparagus
« Reply #24 on: 16 May, 2008, 03:56:14 pm »
There is a big bunch of asparagus sitting on my desk, waiting to be taken home for dinner. Also a bag of Jersey Royal potatoes. Very springtime food!

Yummy