Tag: asparagus

May 13, 2018 Baked Parmesan Panko Asparagus Fries

Our spring vegetable garden includes several varieties of lettuce, spinach, radishes, Japanese turnips, beets, kohlrabi, sugar snap peas and cooking greens. However there is one spring vegetable that we don’t grow that makes my trip to the farmers market worthwhile, fresh local asparagus. Asparagus is a real sign that spring is here. and the season is fleeting. I will serve it roasted, grilled, raw in salads, in stir fries and a new way (at least for me) I heard about from a new “friend”, Alexa.

Alexa is a digital assistant that performs tasks, like turning on Sirius radio when I’m in the kitchen. “Alexa, play Seventies on Seven”. You can ask her the score of the game, will it be sunny today and even turn the lights on if you have the right smart home device. Our Amazon Echo has a screen that always shows the time, weather and rotating news headlines, fun facts and even recipes. One afternoon I noticed that a recipe for oven baked asparagus fries popped up. I was too busy at the time but thought that this was one I needed to try. On line I found many recipes, this is my interpretation of this popular dish.

Look for medium-sized asparagus for this recipe, twenty spears weighed about a pound. If you are storing the asparagus for any length of time, leave the rubber band on, trim about an inch off the bottom. Stand the spears up in a jar with about two inches of cool water and cover loosely with a plastic bag.

When you are ready to proceed with the recipe, preheat the oven to 425° F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or foil for easy clean up and brush with a tablespoon of oil or coat lightly with cooking spray. Set up your breading station by lining up three containers that are long enough to accommodate the asparagus spears. Place the flour in the first container. Add the beaten eggs to the second container. Combine panko and Parmesan and season with salt and pepper for the third container. Trim off the tough ends and lightly rinse the asparagus. Coat the spears with flour, dip in the egg then turn to coat in the Parmesan panko mixture. Place on baking sheet, lining up in a row but not touching. Lightly coat the spears with olive oil cooking spray. Bake in preheated oven, turning spears over halfway during the cooking process to ensure even baking.

In the category of “in case you didn’t know” panko is a Japanese style white breadcrumb that is light and airy with a texture like crushed corn flakes. You can easily find them in the Asian section of your supermarket. I prefer to only put a third of the breadcrumb mixture in the dredging pan at a time. After you have rolled several eggy spears in the crumbs, they tend to make the crumbs wet, so adding more dry crumbs as needed makes the process easier and neater. Remember the rule of wet hand dry hand. Designate one hand to do the dry steps, flour and breadcrumbs and the other to do the wet step-the egg mixture.These are best served right from the oven.  Serve plain or with smoked paprika aioli.

I love my Williams-Sonoma interlocking stainless steel pans for my breading station.
Ready to go into the oven.
Crispy, brown and delicious!

Baked Parmesan Panko Asparagus Fries

Serves four

Ingredients

  • 1 lb asparagus-medium thickness
  • ½ c or more unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1 T fresh lime juice
  • 1 c panko breadcrumbs
  • 1 c freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  • Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
  • Non stick spray or olive oil

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment and lightly coat with a tablespoon of olive oil or olive oil cooking spray.
  2. Rinse the asparagus and  snap or cut tough ends off.
  3. In a large bowl stir with a fork to combine the Parmesan and panko
  4. Set up your breading station: line up three shallow bowls or dishes that are long enough to accommodate the spears. Put the flour in the first dish. Place the beaten eggs in the second and lightly beat in the lime juice. Place the Parmesan panko crumbs in the third, season crumbs with salt and pepper to taste.
  5. Dredge the spears first in the flour, dip in the egg mixture and roll in the crumbs to coat on all sides, pressing crumbs in.
  6. Place asparagus on the prepared baking sheet, spears close together but not touching. Coat lightly with olive oil cooking spray.
  7. Bake the asparagus until browned, crisp and crunchy, about 10-12 minutes. Flip spears over halfway through the cooking time for even baking.
  8. Serve immediately with smoked paprika aioli or your favorite dipping sauce.

Smoked Paprika Aioli

Makes about a cup

Ingredients

  • 4-5 cloves roasted garlic
  • ¾ c mayonnaise (homemade or prepared)
  • 1 t smoked paprika
  • 1 t fresh lemon juice
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions

  1. To make roasted garlic, cut off top third of a head of garlic, drizzle with olive oil, wrap in foil and bake in a 375°F oven for about 40 minutes or until garlic is soft and brown.
  2. With a fork, mash 4-5 roasted cloves in a medium bowl. Add mayonnaise, smoked paprika, lemon juice and whisk to combine. Adjust seasonings and salt and pepper to taste.
  3. Refrigerate for at least an hour to meld the flavors.

May 11, 2017 Spring Salad

Saturday morning was the first local outdoor farmers market of the season and I was ready to seek out some old favorites, and gain a little inspiration for a salad to accompany that night’s dinner. Local for me is the Wrightstown Farmers Market, about three miles from our house. It is held every Saturday, rain or shine from the first Saturday in May to the Saturday before Thanksgiving. The hours are from 9 to 1 but there was already a sizable crowd when I pulled in at 8:45.
The favorites I was looking for, some drip ground coffee from The Coffee Scoop for Sunday morning, the Guatemalan variety is exceptionally smooth. It wouldn’t be a visit without a stop to visit The Dog Bone Guy. I have to load up on cookies for our furry boys.

I love to create salads and spring is a great time to take advantage of the garden’s first offerings. I saw signs this week for local asparagus as I was driving around our area. I located several vendors offering asparagus and chose a bunch of fat purple asparagus and a leaner green bunch. The other two purchases I made for the salad were a bunch of plump red radishes and some shiitake mushrooms. Fortified with an orange cranberry scone I was ready to see what I could find in our own garden.

We have a wonderful crop of salad greens, a mesclun mix and Lollo Rosso, thanks to Joe’s hard work. Along with greens, we have spinach and miner’s lettuce, staples of early spring salads. So I picked a combination and went to work.

In winter months I usually roast asparagus but I thought that steaming would bring out the sweetness of the newly picked stalks. Next, what to do with the shiitake mushrooms? I use shiitake, both dried and fresh quite often but never raw in a salad. Was it okay to use raw shiitakes in a salad? Some quick research revealed a condition, shiitake dermatitis, that manifests in dark red blistering welts.  A component in shiitakes, lentinan, breaks down with heat so this reaction only occurs when the mushrooms are raw or partially cooked. Not certain if  I wanted to find out if we were one of the nine in five hundred people who react, I chose to add them to my steamer basket. The last addition, a little leftover smoked salmon. The sweetness of the asparagus combines perfectly with the smoky, saltiness of the salmon.

I made a very basic vinaigrette with some fines herbes, the perfect addition to a spring salad and garnished with some chervil flowers.

Spring Salad

Serves two

Ingredients for the Salad

  • Assorted  greens, 5-6 cups I used lettuces, miner’s lettuce and spinach
  • 2 or 3 medium radishes
  • 3 large spears of asparagus
  • Fresh shiitake mushrooms
  • Smoked salmon

Ingredients for Vinaigrette

  • 2 T grapefruit balsamic vinegar or white balsamic vinegar
  • ¼ c extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 T fines herbes (combination of parsley, tarragon, chervil and chives
  • Chervil flowers to garnish the salad
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions

  1. Tear lettuces into bite sized pieces in a large bowl. Slice radishes thinly and add to the salad bowl.
  2. Cut asparagus into bite sized diagonal pieces. Discard the mushroom stems and cut the caps into thin slices. Steam the asparagus and mushrooms until tender. Mushroom caps will take about 3 minutes, thick asparagus pieces about 5-6 minutes. Pat dry  with paper towels and allow to cool. Add to the salad bowl
  3. Break the smoked salmon into bite sized chunks and add to the salad bowl.
  4. Combine the vinaigrette ingredients in small bowl. Pour over the salad and toss lightly. Divide salad on two plates. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

 

 

March 24, 2012 Quick Chicken Saute with Asparagus, Peppers and Tomatoes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can’t wait for the produce to start appearing in the farmer’s markets and in our garden. Until then I will have to make do with what looks reasonable in the supermarkets. Last night’s dinner was inspired by a recipe on the Fine Cooking  magazine website. The original recipe was titled, Quick Chicken Saute with Asparagus, Cherry Tomatoes and Lemon Pan Sauce. A good foundation that I would make some changes to.  Quick sounded good to me, I could have all the elements ready and just wait for Joe to tell me he was on his way home. The recipe called for chicken breast, I chose to use chicken thighs. I have found that chicken thighs are moister in a sauteed dish. I doubled the asparagus, added a julienned yellow pepper and substituted readily available cherub tomatoes for the definitely seasonal cherry tomatoes. Any leftover vegetables, and there were not many, could be added to the next morning’s omelet or runny egg dish. The dish also called for some minced fresh basil at the end, but I would prefer to wait until it is really in season. I substituted sun dried tomato pesto to amplify the tomato flavor.  The result was a quick, tasty weeknight dinner. The only change I would make next time would be a grating of fresh Parmesan cheese to the finished dish.

Quick Chicken Saute with Asparagus, Peppers and Tomatoes

Serves two

  • 3 boneless chicken thighs, cut into 3/4 inch chunks
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
  • 2 T plus 2 t  olive oil
  • 12 small “cherub” tomatoes
  • 12 medium asparagus spears, trimmed and cut on the diagonal into 2″ pieces
  • 1 yellow pepper cut into julienned strips
  • 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
  • 1/3 c low sodium chicken broth
  • 3 T fresh lemon juice
  • 2 T unsalted butter, cut into pieces
  • 1 T  sun dried tomato pesto
  • Fresh Parmesan cheese to grate over the dish
  1. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat 1 T oil in a medium saute pan over medium high heat. Add the tomatoes, pepper and asparagus and cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes have softened, and asparagus and pepper are golden brown around the edges, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl and keep warm.
  2. Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in the pan and add the chicken. Cook, turning occasionally, until the chicken is golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add chicken to the vegetables.
  3. Reduce heat to medium and heat remaining 2t oil in the pan. Add garlic and cook until golden brown, about 1 minute. Add chicken broth and lemon juice and use a wooden spoon to scrape up the browned bits in the pan and blend into the sauce, stir in the sun dried tomato pesto.  Simmer sauce for three minutes, reduce to medium low and add the butter. Stir in the chicken, vegetables and the juices that remain.  Season with salt and pepper to taste. Grate a little Parmesan over the dish if desired and serve immediately.

Notes-the cherub tomatoes have a tougher skin than cherry tomatoes so they may need to be “coaxed” to burst with the tip of a sharp knife. Other vegetables may be added or substituted, zucchini, mushrooms etc.