Fears for spears: how to cook asparagus without blanching | Kitchen aide
I always blanch asparagus, but how else can I cook it?Joe, via email“Blanching captures that green, verdant nature of asparagus so well, and saves its minerality, too,” agrees Bart Stratfold of Timberyard in Edinburgh, but when the season is going full tilt, it’s just common sense to expand our horizons.For Billy Stock, chef/owner of the Wellington in Margate, that means salads, especially with spears that are really fresh: “Use a peeler to shave thin strips off the raw asparagus, and use them in a delicious variation on salade Niçoise.”Another approach would be the grill, Stratfold says: “Coat the spears in rapeseed oil, then grill on an excruciatingly high heat for just a few seconds, until they develop some char.” After that, he rolls them in a tray of vinegar or preserves: “At the restaurant, that’s usually sweet pickled elderflower and elderflower vinegar.”Joe could even abandon the kitchen altogether.
“If I were cooking asparagus, it would almost certainly be hard and fast over fire,” says Tomos Parry, chef/co-owner of Brat and Mountain, both in London.As with anything that’s so good and so simple, this is not a time to get all fancy.“You don’t want to mess with the asparagus too much,” Parry says, which is why he prefers to coat the spears lightly in olive oil and cook them directly over flames.Once lightly charred, season with flaky sea salt and a squeeze of lemon, and serve with garlic mayo.You’ll never tire of that – honest.
That said, cooking en papillote (ie, in baking paper) is another nifty asparagus move.“Put a big knob of salted butter on a sheet of paper with the asparagus, and add a little white wine, lots of cracked pepper and a few anise-flavoured soft herbs,” Stratfold says.Wrap it up into a parcel, bake and eat with ham and poached eggs – well, some friendships are made to endure.You’ll also get good results with a microwave, says Chantelle Nicholson, chef/owner of Apricity in London.“Controversial, perhaps, but when I was back home in New Zealand, my aunt put asparagus from her garden on a plate with a bit of butter and salt, put another plate on top and microwaved it for two minutes,” she says.
“That came out a treat.”Otherwise, Nicholson would be inclined to consider an air fryer: “I’m a big fan of miso, so I’d mix some of that with a touch of water and brush it over the asparagus.” Pop the spears in the fryer basket and blast with high heat (“about 180C”) – four minutes ought to do the job nicely.Serve under a comfort blanket of fried eggs or dip in Kewpie mayo flavoured with chilli crisp.Finally, when the sun is shining, you’ll be hard pushed to better this spring star when it’s fried in a tempura-style batter, Stratfold says: “Asparagus spears are just big, juicy cylinders, so when you tempura them, they steam while they fry, which in turn captures their juiciness and retains flavour.
” Ordinarily, Stratfold would serve a big, crisp pile of those seasoned with salt blended with dry fermented vegetables, but I’m guessing Joe doesn’t have the latter knocking about his kitchen.“Try seaweed instead,” Stratfold says.“That would be really delicious.” As would a glass of something cold on the side.Got a culinary dilemma? Email feast@theguardian.
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