Asparagus - Harbinger of Spring

Vendors at my local farmer's market have been posting signs that asparagus was coming soon - one of the true signs that Spring is nearly upon us.  This Saturday, I found one vendor with some early bundles for sale. I am getting a little tired of winter squashes, kales, and cruciferous vegetables so fresh, seasonal asparagus was a huge treat this week.

Did you know that asparagus plants actually produce a fruit -- a red berry -- that is poisonous to humans?  Another odd fact (according to Wikipedia) is that a recipe for asparagus exists in the oldest surviving book of recipes from the 3rd century.  I don't know what preparation that recipe suggested, but most likely it was a simple, timeless steam or saute. The book may have even warned about over cooking, which is not hard to do with this vegetable. Just 30 seconds too long in the steamer and the stems will go from crisp and bright to grey and flacid.

Yes, that's truffle butter!

One great way to prevent this travesty is to cook the spears using the sous vide method.  I opted for a quick and simple preparation - peeled asparagus spears, some truffle butter, and a pinch of salt. I vacuum sealed them and then cooked them for 10 minutes at 85 degrees centigrade.  Another benefit of using sous vide is that you typically don't need as much sauce or butter as you would if the asparagus were cooked in a traditional method. I only used about 1 tablespoon of butter for the whole bunch of spears.  During cooking, the butter melts and spreads out evenly over all the spears.

When I cook the asparagus sous vide, I usually peel the stems.  It helps them to cook a little faster and makes every bite extra sweet.  I hate to waste the peels which are full of vitamins, so I  freeze them and use them in cream-based soups (like cream of celery or cream of broccoli, for example).   I was planning to take these to work for lunch the  next day, so to stop the cooking process, as soon as time was up I plunged them into an ice bath to quick chill them.  A quick warm up in the office microwave and I will have a very elegant side to accompany a fruit and cheese plate and baguette lunch.


My immersion circulator takes a while to heat the water bath to the high heat needed to cook these, so I opted to bring the water to a boil in a large kettle on the stove, then removed it from the stove, and added cool water as necessary until the proper temperature was achieved. I attached my Anova sous vide to the side of the pot and cooked from there.  


Spring Asparagus

1 bunch asparagus, stems lightly peeled
2 Tbsp truffle butter
a pinch of salt

Wash and peel the asparagus then vacuum seal or place in a ziplock bag with the truffle butter and salt.  If using a ziplock bag, remove the air using the water submersion technique. Heat the water bath to 85 degrees centigrade then place the sealed bag in the water and cook for 10 minutes.  If you won't be eating these right away, plunge into an ice bath to stop the cooking and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.