If you've been eating canned asparagus all these years, you're in for
a real treat! Canned vegetables have little, if any, nutritional value
because they are cooked out in the high-temperature cooking process they
get at the canning companies. Besides that, you can often find fresh asparagus
on sale, therefore saving your money and nutrients all at once, not to
mention that they taste better too! Here's a few tips for picking and
cooking those tender spears to beautiful perfection.
Pick fresh looking asparagus spears that aren't wilted or damaged in
any way. Look for pretty tops first, then look for the size stalk you
want.
If you use the larger spears, you will have to peel the stalks with a
vegetable peeler, but if you use the thin ones, you won't!
Directions:
* Rinse the spears and place in an inch of boiling water, laying about
half of the batch down flat, depending on the size of your pan. Do NOT
cover, or they will lose their pretty bright green color.
* Cook the spears until they are fork-tender, about 5 minutes or less.
There's no need to pierce every spear to test if they are done, if a few
of them are ready then they all will be.
* Immediately place all the cooked spears into a bowl of ice water to
stop the cooking process, then remove them from the ice water and place
on a serving plate.
* If serving time is still a bit away, you can reheat them in the microwave
for 30 seconds without changing their color or texture. Continue to cook
the rest of the batch in the same way, and be sure to taste one as soon
as it comes out of the ice water... they are sooooo good!