Asparagus - a very useful plant, from its stems can be prepared various delicacies, delicious and healthy. Some do not dare to buy asparagus in supermarkets simply because they do not know how to cook it properly.
The most common way of cooking asparagus is cooking (you can steam). Cooked asparagus is used as a basis for various salads or other dishes, or you can simply fill the ready boiled asparagus with butter or sauce.
Cooking process
Before cooking, the asparagus must be cleaned. The two main known types of food asparagus (white and green) are cleaned in different ways. White asparagus is cleaned only under the top, and green - down from the middle of the stem. It is better to use for this purpose a special knife-vegetable sweeper with a blade of a special shape and sharpening. At already peeled asparagus stems, you need to cut off from the end to 1-2 centimeters. Next shoots of asparagus should be folded in a bundle of 6-10 pieces and trim them. Before cooking, you need to tie the bundles with a simple white or chef's thread, or, better, with a twig of parsley or dill: this will turn out to be more fragrant.
Cook asparagus correctly
Cook asparagus in salted water, not for long. If desired, you can add a little honey and lemon to the water. How many minutes to cook asparagus? White asparagus is usually cooked longer than green - about 10-15 minutes, green enough to weld, it takes 3-8 minutes. It should be noted that the asparagus tips are cooked somewhat faster than the stems themselves, so the bundle of asparagus is best placed in a container with boiling water with its tips upwards, and it is good that the tips are above the surface. It is best to cook asparagus in a special sieve of cylindrical shape with a handle. In a sieve put a bunch of asparagus, then the sieve is immersed in a pan, where water is boiling. When the asparagus is cooked, you need to remove the sieve, drain it. Ready asparagus is shifted to a serving dish and poured with oil (you can melted creamy, and can be olive) or some kind of sauce.
Dressing for asparagus
The most harmonious taste of asparagus is combined with the taste of Dutch sauce based on butter, lemon juice and egg yolks. You can use sour-garlic sauce, lemon-garlic, homemade mayonnaise, melted cheese of Camembert type, grated Parmesan with olive oil, natural unsweetened yogurt, olive-nut sauce.
Of course, there are other ways of cooking and other recipes with asparagus. It can be baked, marinated, and also added to risotto, omelettes and various sauces. You can also use asparagus as a filling for casseroles, pancakes and pies.
Asparagus soup
Ingredients:
- 400 g of asparagus;
- 2 chicken eggs;
- 100 ml of natural cream;
- 2-3 tablespoons of vegetable oil;
- juice of half a lemon;
- greenery;
- salt;
- 2 cloves garlic.
Preparation:
Shoot the asparagus in a small amount of water and boil through a sieve or work in a blender. Prepare cream soup, using a decoction. Add hard-boiled and wiped eggs, butter, cream, crushed herbs and garlic, lemon juice. We'll salivate, pepper and mix. You can pour into soup cups and serve to the table.
An unusual recipe
If you want something sharp, find out how to cook asparagus in Korean. Unfortunately, the so-called "asparagus in Korean" is not prepared from useful asparagus, but from a less useful soya semi-finished product called "dry asparagus".
Ingredients:
- 100 g soybean fu-chu (the so-called "soya asparagus");
- 2 cloves garlic;
- 1 onion;
- 1 tablespoon of sesame oil;
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce;
- seasoning lotus;
- hot pepper sauce.
Preparation:
Preparing asparagus in Korean does not take much time. Semi-finished "dry asparagus" should be poured with boiling water and left for an hour, and after this time, discarded in a colander. In a frying pan in sesame oil fry onions, cut into half rings. Add crushed garlic, soy and pepper sauces, and protect yourself well. The contents of the frying pan add to the finished product "dry asparagus", stir, add the seasoning "Lotus", lightly cool and serve with a cup of makkori, soyju or chzhonhu.