Carefree Cooking

Stir Fried Asparagus

It's Asparagus season! So rush out to your local supermarket and grab a bunch. Asparagus is a very versatile vegetable that can be eaten standalone or as a sidekick to some seafood (or just regular meats). The good thing about asparagus is that it will keep its firm texture longer than most vegetables so you don't have to worry about overcooking it. But having said that, you can overcook asparagus so beware.

Asparagus can be prepared quite easily. Hold the bottom with one hand and the botton 1/4 with another. Bend the asparagus until it snaps. The place where it snaps is the weakest point since that is the boundary of the soft ("yummy") part and the hard ("fibery") part. You can either do this for the entire bunch or you can use the first one as a template to determine how much to cut off from the rest. Discard the bottom part since that is not "good eats".

There are lots of ways to cook asparagus. If you're into grilling, just dab some olive oil on the the Asparagus, sprinkle a little bit of salt and pepper and throw them on the grill. Once they are done, you'll see lovely grill marks on them.

I find grilling too messy since I have to clean it up afterwards so I often go for the stir fry option. Just add a bit of oil to coat the pan, then throw in some chopped Asparagus (cut in 1 - 1/2 inch length) and some diced garlic. Cook for a 3-4 minutes (depends on how firm you want it to be). Add the seasoning next (i.e. salt and pepper) and taste the veggie. Asparagus is all texture and no taste that's why I usually add "liberal" amounts of salt and pepper. Serve with any meat dish and you now have a well balanced meal. Carefree cooking? Or easy cooking? It's also healty eating.

posted by carefreecooking @ 9:27 PM