Asparagus in Italian Cooking

Asparagus is a food of vegetal origin that can be included in the vegetable group of vegetables. These are green or white shoots (depending on whether they are grown in presence or absence of light), which require quite complicated cultivation.

There are many “Cultivated” asparagus but in Italy (but not only) a wild species grows asparagus called “asparagina” available in Spring. Asparagus is a plant that has been cultivated since ancient times: it seems that the first cultivations date back to the year zero in Asia Minor and Egypt, and that they were particularly appreciated by the Emperors of ancient Rome, who knew its numerous nutritional properties

Cultivated especially in Central and Northern Italy, asparagus grows from March to June, although some wild species arrive in August and September.

They are edible in all their parts, even if the white part of the stem and the thin layer that covers it can be unpleasant to the palateand, therefore, they must be removed.

Although there are as many as 200 varieties, mainly four types are easily available,different in appearance but not in nutritional properties:

– white asparagus, with a great delicate taste, it owes its color to the absence of light in which it grows;

-purple asparagus, with a more bitter flavour,it is nothing more than white asparagus exposed to sunlight;

-green asparagus, more on the palate tasty and sweet, it is the most common;

-wild asparagus is thinner and has a more pungent taste.

While the latter is used above all for asparagus frittata, soups and asparagus soup,other varieties are suitable for all preparations.

Useful information

Asparagus boasts excellent nutritional properties (fibre, vitamins and mineral salts); furthermore, both theedible bud, and the roots of the plant (in decoction), significantly stimulate the renal filtration. This aspect, which for many represents a metabolic advantage, means that Asparagus is part of the kidney patient’s diet and should be absolutely avoided

in case of gout or hyperuricemia which is difficult to compensate.

Due to the significant concentration of aspartic acid and sulfur groups, asparagus gives immediately a rather intense odor in the urine.

Shopping Tips

A tip is to always choose the freshest asparagus. To check their freshness, check the ends: the tips must be straight and with the leaves well closed, while the stem must be free of stains and turgid

Preparation and Recipes

The culinary preparation of asparagus is quite simple but still requires some attention

As is often found with many other vegetables, the smaller asparagus are characterized by a completely superior taste and aroma; on the other hand, the larger ones contain pulp quantitatively greater

Clean the Asparagus

Step 1

To clean the asparagus, first start by freeing them from the rubber bands that generally hold them together, taking care not to break the tips: the cleaning phases are identical for all types of asparagus with the exception of wild ones, whose stem must not be peeled .

Step 2

Pass the asparagus under running water

Step 3

Arrange the asparagus on a cutting board, one next to the other and cut the hardest, whitest tips with a knife .

There is also a traditional method for cleaning asparagus without a knife. After having them wash, take an asparagus in your hand: you will feel that it has a precise breaking point, break the vegetable into that point, keep the tip aside and discard the hardest part. Using this method, unlike of the previous one, they will not all be the same length, because each asparagus percentage of softer part varies

Step 4

With a potato peeler or knife, position yourself just below the tip and cut off the surface to remove the hardest and stringy external part. Honestly when served to the family we don’t do it and if there are stringy parts we discard them while we eat

The asparagus are ready: rinse them again and proceed with cooking.

How to cook asparagus

Asparagus can be cooked in many different ways.

The main cooking methods, however, are two:

boiling, if you need whole asparagus, and browning, if your recipe requires that the asparagus is cut into pieces.

How to boil asparagus

To boil asparagus you can use a specific asparagus pan, a narrow and high pot, specifically for cooking this vegetable: tie the asparagus together with a piece of string, place the asparagus in a pot with the water, transfer to the heat, season with salt and, when it reaches the boil, add the asparagus with the tips facing upwards. Be careful, though: avoid the tips not being immersed in water because they would risk breaking, it is better to leave them out and steam them.

To boil the asparagus in a normal pot, wait until the water reaches the boil, season with the salt and delicately insert the asparagus inside. In this case, there is no possibility to cook the tips only with steam, so you will have to pay close attention to the degree of cooking to prevent them from breaking.

Typically asparagus cooks in about 10 minutes, but if you have any doubts you can check them with a fork: if they are soft, they are ready.

We remind you that the asparagus must remain compact.

Once boiled, asparagus can be simply seasoned and served as a side dish, blended, to obtain a cream to be used in more complex recipes, or used to prepare eggs and asparagus Venetian style or an asparagus salad.

How to brown asparagus in a pan

If you prefer to cook the asparagus by browning, cut them into pieces and sauté them in a pan with a knob of butter or a drizzle of oil, adding sautéed onions if you like.

When they will be softened you can proceed according to your recipe. This cooking is recommended for example, for the asparagus and potato frittata and for the asparagus risotto.

Advice

-To preserve the bright color of asparagus, immerse them in ice water immediately after cooking them.

-After blanching the asparagus, do not throw away their cooking water: use it to cook other vegetables, to prepare a detox herbal tea or, if you don’t like the typically bitter taste, you can save it for watering plants.

Don’t even throw away the cut stems (the final part is too tough to be sautéed): you can use them in a scented broth or boil them for twenty minutes and blend them until they become a creamy puree.

Storage

Raw asparagus can be stored at room temperature for 1 day, with the stem immersed in water. Kept in the fridge, however, they will last for 4 days, wrapped in a damp cloth.

The cooked asparagus can be kept in the fridge for 2 days, closed in a normal airtight container.

If you prefer, you can also freeze them, both cooked and raw: place them in the freezer on baking paper, well spaced apart and, once frozen, place them in freezer bags. Frozen asparagus will last up to 2 months.

Here are some recipes with asparagus: