Fit Fare

One of my favorite times of the year is spring. I believe a lot of my feelings about this time of the year are connected to childhood memories of gathering wild spring greens and asparagus with my mother. When winter was waning, I would begin to ask my mother when we would stalk wild asparagus. That was my very favorite thing to do. We lived in Illinois at that time, where asparagus grows wild in many areas. We prowled fields and alleys, but most often we found the little spears emerging in ditches along the highways. “Don’t tell anyone about this,” my mother would say, and we would jump into the muddiest ditch, just to harvest the spears. Those were our secret places to find asparagus, guarded zealously from others.

And in the years that followed, we harvested lots of delicious asparagus. Whenever my mother moved to a new home, she had an unerring ability to find it growing in ditches or fields. We swore that the wild asparagus tasted much better than the store bought variety. To my eye, they both looked the same, but the wild stuff was much tastier. Who can really say? The wild variety was actually the same as that sold in the store, their seeds spread by birds from the large fields of asparagus that are grown commercially in Illinois. How can you separate emotion from taste?

I’ve never found any wild asparagus here in California. But, commercial growers produce beautiful blue tipped asparagus in the Delta, not far from where I live. Still, it’s not as much fun as discovering it growing in a ditch.

As a child, I never thought about any nutritional value in the asparagus I ate. But, it turns out that it’s a nutritionally valuable vegetable, the best plant based source of folic acid. Folic acid is necessary for blood cell formation and growth, as well as liver disease prevention. Folic acid is crucial for pregnant women, to prevent neural tube birth defects. Asparagus is also low in calories, contains no fat or cholesterol, and is very low in sodium. It’s also a great source of potassium, fiber, and rutin, a compound that strengthens the walls of capillaries. As well, the rhizomes and roots have been used to treat urinary tract infections, and kidney and bladder stones.

But, the main reason people eat asparagus is for the taste. Nothing tastes like it. And it doesn’t need embellishment to taste at its best. It can be used in complex recipes with cream sauce and puff pastry. But, it needs nothing more than brief steaming, with a bit of oil or lemon juice, to shine at it’s best. I also like to serve it with herbs and Parmesan cheese. The following recipe is herby, but the asparagus is front and center, as it should be.

Asparagus Salad with Herbs and Parmesan
(Adapted from Food & Wine magazine)
SERVES 10

4 pounds asparagus, trimmed and cut diagonally into 3-inch lengths
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup coarsely chopped chives
1/2 cup coarsely chopped mint
1/2 cup coarsely chopped parsley
2 ounces Parmesan cheese, thinly shaved

Bring 5 quarts of salted water to a boil over high heat. Cook the asparagus until just tender, 3 to 5 minutes for thin stalks and 8 to 10 minutes for thick. Drain the asparagus, then chill it in a bowl of ice water. Drain, pat dry and place in a large mixing bowl.

In a small bowl, whisk the olive oil and lemon juice together, then season the dressing with salt and pepper. Stir the chervil, chives, mint and parsley into the salad dressing. Pour the dressing over the asparagus and toss lightly.

When ready to serve, top the salad with the Parmesan shavings and sprinkle with a few drops of truffle oil, if desired. Pass additional coarse salt at the table.