by Lynn Greene
Stalking asparagus
It’s best to plant your own bed
One of the first things I did when I began gardening at
this old house was put in an asparagus bed. It’s a lot
of work installing one but 20 years later I was still picking.
Not so this year; I’ve got to put in a new batch of roots.
They say a good asparagus bed will outlast its gardener,
but only if the gardener is good. You have to let the seeds
drop to start new plants, and since I kept trying to keep
the rows somewhat orderly, I didn’t really allow nature
to take its true course.
At first, the most difficult part of maintaining the asparagus
bed was keeping it to myself. Folks I didn’t even know
spied the stalks from the road and crept into the garden
under the pretense of not knowing it was garden. In retaliation,
I added a row of brambly raspberries, a stand of pine trees
and a fence. Now that the pine trees are more than 20 feet
high, there are no trespassers, other than the four-legged
kind, and they don’t seem to have a hankering for asparagus.
Birds are to blame for people thinking they can travel
along roadsides and pick their own asparagus like nobody’s
business. These avian gardeners have carried the seeds
far and wide. On a good day in April or May, you might
think it’s a naturalized plant, since there’s so much of
it popping up here and there.
In truth, asparagus is a cultivated vegetable. It has
been a part of gardens worldwide for more than 2,000 years.
During that time, it has been regarded as a luxury item
because of its short growing season. King Louis XIV of
France went so far as to have his gardeners grow asparagus
in special greenhouses so that he could enjoy it year-round.
But most folks, until the invention of the freezer, had
to make do with asparagus for a short three- or four-week
period. An established bed can last a bit longer.
By the 1700s, asparagus had arrived in the colonies, and
by the 1850s, it had made it as far as northern California,
which became a center for commercial production in the
United States. It grows in most parts of our country, except
for the deep South.
Asparagus likes wet weather. There have been years when
I have literally watched it grow several inches a day.
I’d leave for work in the morning and come back in the
evening to a meal waiting to be picked.
If you like asparagus, you’ll take it in most any dish
and think it divine.
Asparagus and pasta salad
If you have plenty of asparagus, or just leftover cooked
(al dente) asparagus, you can add the cut spears to all
kinds of salads — potato salad, egg salad, corn relish,
green bean salad, tri-bean salad, etc. But my favorite
is in pasta salad. Salads with a creamy salad dressing
or a vinaigrette dressing work equally well.
Your choice of dressing is virtually unlimited. There
are many excellent choices out there with no preservatives
or artificial flavors or ingredients. Keep in mind that
low-fat dressings can be high in sodium and sugar, and
low fat does not necessarily mean low calories. Read the
labels.
A simple vinaigrette dressing can be dressed up with a
few additions. A plain-Jane type of vinegar-and-oil dressing
usually has no preservatives because it keeps well enough
on its own. Buy a basic one and try adding red wine or
balsamic vinegar for a new taste. My favorite for salads
that contain fruit is to add about 2 tablespoons unreconstituted
raspberry or cranberry juice to 1/2 cup of the plain vinaigrette.
It gives it some color and just a bit of extra sweetness.
The important thing is to blanch your asparagus briefly
— you don’t want it to be mushy. I like to save time and
dirty dishes, so I usually cook the pasta until almost
done, then add the asparagus. I finish cooking both together,
then drain and rinse very quickly with cold water to stop
the cooking process.
Asparagus quiche
— makes one 9-inch deep dish quiche
Unbaked pie shell, bottom only
1/2 cup diced onion
4 oz. bacon
1-1/2 cups asparagus (cut into 1/2-inch pieces)
4 large eggs
1-1/2 cup half and half
6 oz. shredded Swiss cheese
6 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 tsp. white pepper
1 tsp. dried chopped parsley
dash of nutmeg
Chop the bacon into small pieces and place in saute pan
with the chopped onions. Saute until bacon is almost crisp,
then add the asparagus. Continue to cook until asparagus
is just tender. Remove from heat and drain the fat. In
separate bowl beat together the eggs and half and half.
Add the cheese, pepper, salt, parsley and nutmeg and combine.
Add the drained bacon, onions and asparagus.
Pour into unbaked 9-inch pie shell. Place on cookie sheet
to catch any drippings and bake in 350 F oven for 45 minutes
to one hour. Test as you would for custard: if knife comes
out clean, it is done. Turn off oven to keep quiche warm
for up to 1/2 hour. Quiche is best served warm, not too
hot.
Lynn Greene is senior editor for Community Shoppers Inc., which publishes the Stateline News. Contact her at lgreene@communityshoppers.com. |
