I made it over to the Wallingford Farmers Market today (it just opened last week) and was pleasantly surprised to see that, though it’s small, it has plenty of variety. I bought some ground lamb, fresh broccoli, and first-of-the-season strawberries. 

There was little variety in one respect, though — the massive amounts of asparagus pretty much every vendor was selling. It’s local, in season, and apparently growing like a weed in these parts. We’ve been buying about a pound a week, if not more, and I would have bought some today…but we already bought some from Whole Foods yesterday. It was still local, I swear! I’m sorry, Michael Pollan!

Anyway, I came home tonight, looked in the fridge, calculated our schedule for the week, and realized we had a lot of fresh produce that was rapidly reaching Judgment Day and needed to be cooked/eaten immediately. Asparagus, you’re up.

The good thing about asparagus is that it’s easy to cook in a number of ways — roasting, simmering, even microwaving (though we don’t have a microwave now, and that’s a post and lifestyle choice story for another day). Plus I’ve cooked it enough that I feel comfortable playing around with it. Pretty much the worst thing you can do to asparagus is overcook it, which I do far too often, but the current product tastes so good it’s hard to really screw it up.

Asparagus, yum

So here is my super-simple recipe for asparagus that I threw together tonight. All ingredients are approximate, it’s all to taste anyway. (You can see the fresh strawberries in the background. And dirty dishes…ignore those.)

  • One bunch asparagus
  • Shredded parmesan cheese
  • Butter
  • Salt & pepper
  • Tupperware with lid

Boil a medium pot about half full of water, big enough to hold all the asparagus. While it’s boiling, snap off the woody ends of the asparagus (they break off naturally).

When water is boiling, dump in the asparagus and cook about 5 min. Test by sticking a fork into the stalk end of the asparagus, and when it goes in with just a little resistance, it’s done. Err on the side of firmer, because those things absolutely refuse to stop cooking.

Drain the asparagus and rinse with some cold water to kind of stop them cooking, but you still want them warm. Put a pat of butter (1 Tb. or so) in the Tupperware container. Plop in the asparagus and dose with salt and pepper to taste. Add parmesan cheese (1/4 cup or so, but as much/little as you like) and then seal the lid.

Shake the container vigorously until the butter has melted and the asparagus is all coated in goodness. You can eat this cold as a salad or warm standing up in front of the fridge with equal parts fingers and fork.