Spring Asparagus Recipes

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, bring 1 cup water to a boil. Add asparagus; cook, covered, until crisp-tender, 3-5 minutes. Drain; place in a large bowl. Add tomatoes; cover and keep warm. , Place vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, onion, salt and paprika in a blender; cover and process until smooth. While processing, gradually add oil in a steady stream. Toss with asparagus mixture. Top with almonds and, if desired, cheese.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lightly flour the work surface and roll out the puff pastry to a 9- by 12-inch even rectangle. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet. Combine the mascarpone, 1 1/4 teaspoons of the salt, the flour, egg and lemon zest, and then fold in the chives and tarragon. Spread over the puff pastry, leaving a 3/4-inch border. Make small cuts around the border about 1 inch apart with the tip of a paring knife.
• Toss the asparagus with the olive oil in a bowl. Lay half of the asparagus in a neat row across the surface of the tart so the tips meet the edge. Do the same in the opposite direction with the remaining asparagus. Season with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and some pepper. Bake until the border of the tart is deep golden and puffed and the top is lightly spotted golden brown, about 25 minutes. Let cool for 5 to 10 minutes and serve.
• Serve with lightly dressed greens.

Steps:

• Whisk together the rice vinegar, red wine vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, and mustard. Drizzle in the peanut oil and sesame oil while whisking vigorously to emulsify. Set aside.
• Bring a pot of lightly-salted water to a boil. Add the asparagus to the water and cook 3 to 5 minutes until just tender, but still mostly firm. Remove and rinse under cold water to stop from cooking any further.
• Place the asparagus in a large bowl and drizzle the dressing over the asparagus. Toss until evenly coated. Sprinkle with sesame seeds to serve.

Steps:

• Rinse the asparagus and remove the bottom inch of the stem.
• Cut the tips into 2 inch pieces.
• Cut the remaining piece julienned.
• Set the asparagus aside.
• Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add salt.
• In a large nonstick skillet, saute the garlic, shallots and red pepper flakes in olive oil, until tender but not browned.
• Add the lemon juice and reduce by half.
• Drop the pasta and the asparagus tips into the boiling water.
• Cook until the pasta is ala dente, about 3 - 4 minutes.
• Drain for a few minutes and add to the pan.
• While the pasta is cooking add the remaining asparagus to the pan with the shallots and saute until they begin to wilt.
• Toss in the chives, the pasta and cook until the remaining water has evaporated.
• Season with salt and freshly ground pepper.
• Remove from heat and add the Parmesan cheese.
• Serve immediately.
• (When I make this a second time, I'm going to add a little lemon zest in step 7).

Steps:

• In a medium saucepan stir together water, instant chicken bouillon granules, lemon peel, fresh cilantro,and crushed red pepper; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Strain the liquid, discarding the solids; return the liquid to the saucepan.
• Return liquid to boiling. Add the asparagus to saucepan. Reduce heat to low and simme, covered, about 4 to 6 minutes or until asparagus is tender. Remove from heat; cool slightly. Set aside a few of the aparagus tips for garnish. Carefully transfer the rest of the mixture to a blender or food processor; cover and blend or process until smooth. Set aside.
• In the same saucepan gradually stir milk into cornstarch. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly; cook and stir for 2 minutes more. (The mixture may be slightly foamy.) Gradually add the asparagus mixture, stirring constantly. Heat through.
• Ladle the asparagus soup into soup bowls. Top with reserved asparagus tips.

Steps:

• Trim woody ends of asparagus spears.
• Slice asparagus (with a sharply diagonal slant) into 3-inch lengths.
• Heat oil in large skillet until a piece of asparagus sizzles.
• Add asparagus, ginger and pepper; stir-fry over medium-high heat for 2 minutes.
• Add soy sauce and stir-fry 2 minutes longer.
• Add almonds and stir-fry briefly just to heat through.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
• Coat a 9-inch springform pan with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.
• In a medium saucepan cook the asparagus, covered, in a small amount of boiling water for 2 minutes.
• Drain; set aside.
• In a small bowl stir together the grated Parmesan and basil.
• Sprinkle a work surface with half of the mixture.
• Roll out pizza dough on the surface to a 12-inch square.
• Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan mixture.
• Using a rolling pin, gently press into dough by rolling over top.
• Turn dough into prepared pan.
• Press dough up the sides of the pan, folding under edges as needed to form sides that are 2 inches high.
• Line dough in pan with a double thickness of foil.
• Bake for 8 minutes.
• Remove foil.
• Bake 5 minutes more.
• Remove from oven.
• Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
• Meanwhile, in a small skillet cook bacon until crisp.
• Drain, reserving 1 tablespoon drippings.
• Crumble bacon; set aside.
• Cook onion in reserved drippings over medium heat until tender but not brown; drain.
• In a medium mixing bowl stir together eggs, milk, salt, and nutmeg.
• Stir in crumbled bacon and onion.
• Toss together Swiss cheese and flour.
• Add to egg mixture; mix well.
• Pour egg mixture into the dough-lined pan.
• Toss asparagus halves with the oil.
• Arrange asparagus in a spokeline pattern on top of egg mixture.
• Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.
• Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
• Remove sides of pan to serve.
• Top with shaved Parmesan cheese, if desired.
• Makes 6 main-dish servings.

Steps:

• Drain pineapple and reserve 1 tbls of the juice for later.
• Mix chicken, walnuts, almonds and pineapple in medium bowl.
• Mix reserved pineapple juice and mayonaisse until smooth.
• Toss mayonaisse mixture with chicken mixture.
• Fold in asparagus.
• Cover and refrigerate about 2 hours or until chilled.
• Serve on lettuce leaves.