Roast it! Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Rinse asparagus and place on a baking sheet. Drizzle olive oil over the stalks and mix to coat evenly. Sprinkle with as much salt and pepper as you wish, and bake for 20-25 minutes or until they are crispy (but not burned). You can also throw it on the grill!
(Feeling ambitious? After roasting the asparagus above, allow to cool and then wrap 2-3 stalks in paper-thin slices of prosciutto.)
Throw it in a quiche! Check this recipe out from the Food Network.
Make asparagus soup. Asparagus goes great with leeks and shallots. In a large soup pot, saute some leeks and/or shallots in olive oil. Throw in some minced garlic, salt, pepper, (and if you love spicy, cayenne!) and saute a little longer. Add 4 cups of chicken or veggie broth and a bunch of asparagus (chopped into 1-inch pieces). Bring to a boil and then simmer for 15 minutes or until asparagus is tender. If you have a food processor, the soup can even be pureed... if not, it will still taste great. This is a basic recipe, so feel free to add anything you might like to spice it up. (Hint: Goat cheese and basil make for a great garnish for this soup.)
Asparagus is a great souce of potassium, vitamin A, folate, and vitamin K. This means that asparagus has the uncanny ability to protect you against cancer, reduce inflammation and pain, reduce the risk of heart disease, and prevent birth defects (if you are pregnant or planning to become pregnant).
Asparagus is unique in that it produces a very funny smell in your urine as soon as 15 minutes after you eat the stuff. There is a sulfurous amino acid in asparagus that breaks down in your body into a stinky chemical. This happens in every body, but only some people have the gene to be able to smell the chemical.
What's in season? Check out this calendar from the Lansing City Market!
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