Spring Asparagus

When I was a little girl (don’t you just love a paragraph that begins like that?) in southeastern Colorado, every spring I would accompany my mom and aunt as they picked the bountiful asparagus that grew wild along the irrigation ditches.  I don’t know if it was the fact that it grew alongside the muddy water or that it smelled so pungent but it was the one vegetable that I didn’t like.  (Yes, I even liked beets and spinach!)  As the years passed, asparagus remained on my “well, I’ll eat it but…” list.  Just within recent memory has it, unexpectedly, become one of my favorite spring treats.

For some unknown reason (to me, at least) this spring has given us a bumper crop of asparagus in upstate New York.  We’ve had long, skinny spears and short, fat ones – bright green, musty green, purply-green – you name it – we’ve picked it wild, from the garden, or in bundles from the farmers market in Cooperstown or, in the city, at the Union Square market.  Fresh, local asparagus is so wonderfully delicious that you really don’t have to do much other than steam or grill it and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and add a sprinkle of crunchy sea salt.  We’ve indulged and had a couple of late breakfasts comprised of fat steamed asparagus with some shaved black truffles (very indulgent) and later with shaved Parmigiano (from DiPalo’s on Grand Street {dipaloselects.com}) and cracked black pepper.  I would have preferred the addition of some hollandaise sauce but let willpower control any further indulgence.

And, because we’ve had so much, for the first time in a long time, I also pickled it using the same recipe that my mom and aunt shared so many years ago.  However, I didn’t can the jars in a boiling water bath, just sealed and refrigerated a couple of jars for our use and shared the others with friends.  Pickled asparagus makes a terrific hors d’ wrapped with some thinly sliced speck or prosciutto, a great addition to a summer salad, or as a side with grilled fish.

Pickled Asparagus

Depending upon the size of the spears, makes 4 to 6 quarts

5 cups white or rice wine vinegar

½ cup coarse salt

4 pounds very fresh asparagus, tough ends cut off to make a neat end (do not peel

as you want firm stalks)

As many fresh garlic cloves as you like for each jar

1 sprig fresh dill per jar

½ teaspoon mustard seed per jar

1 small, hot chile per jar, optional

Make an ice water bath in a large shallow pot or bowl.  Set aside.

Combine the vinegar and salt with 5 cups of cold water in a heavy, nonreactive saucepan over high heat.  Bring to a boil.

Working with a few spears at a time, blanch the asparagus in the boiling liquid for 45 seconds.  Using tongs, transfer the blanched asparagus to the ice water bath.

As cooled, place on a double layer of paper towel to drain.

Keep the vinegar mixture at a bare simmer once all of the asparagus has been blanched.

Pack the cooled, blanched spears in clean, sterilized quart jars, tips up.  Place as many garlic cloves as you like, a sprig of fresh dill, ½ teaspoon mustard seed, and, if using, a small hot chile into each jar.  Cover with the hot vinegar mixture, leaving about ¼-inch space at the top.  Screw on lids and, if refrigerating, set aside to cool.

If canning, place the jars in a boiling water bath (the water must cover the jars by 1-inch) and boil for 5 minutes.   Remove from the boiling water and tighten the lids.  Set aside on wire racks to cool before storing.

Mickey’s Asparagus Salad

This is a photo of a wonderful asparagus, beet, and goat cheese salad that my son, Mickey, made for us at a recent family dinner.  When I asked him what vinaigrette he had used he said – and I quote – “It was probably my classic French vinaigrette: shallots, mustard, sherry vinegar, canola or olive oil and sea salt and white pepper.”

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The marketeers and commercial vendors have cleaned up our food so much that I think that soft shell crab must be about as adventurous an eat as anyone can have today.  I can’t wait for their early spring arrival (along with that other harbinger, shad roe) and once they hit the market, we have them at least once a week – marveling at the remarkable fluctuation in price every time we hit Citarella or Wild Edibles.

They are also part of the spring family get-together cook-a-thon at Mickey’s (my eldest son) house.  His wife, Laurel, and his children are squeamish about them and not only refuse to eat them but leave the kitchen (giving them a quick sear in clarified butter) or the deck (using the grill) when I prepare them.  The rest of us wrap them in soft white bread and spoon on left-over salsa, warm butter and lemon juice, or whatever vinaigrette is hanging around.  Yummy!

You don’t really need a recipe to cook soft shell crab – the simpler they are cooked and served, the better.  For each person, you need 2 (if large) or 3 (if small) cleaned, rinsed soft shells.  Pat them dry before cooking.   For the stove top you need a very hot pan and a slick of clarified butter or grapeseed (or other non-threatening) oil (depending on whether you want the addition of the butter flavor or you want no additional flavor detracting from the sweet meat).  Lightly coat both sides of each crab with Wondra flour and season with salt and pepper.  A word of warning, when placing the crab into the hot pan, lay them in from front to back (that is, holding a crab in your fingertips place the side nearest you into the pan first) and gently lower the crab into the oil; otherwise the residual moisture in the crab will splatter back at you when it hits the hot pan and can cause a nasty burn.  Using this method, it will still splatter but usually more toward the back of the pan.  Cook for 3 minutes; then, turn and cook the remaining side for 2 minutes.  Transfer to a double layer of paper towel to drain.  If desired, you can add about ¼ cup of unsalted butter to the pan and place over high heat.  When the butter begins to foam, begin shaking the pan back and forth allowing the butter to turn a lovely brown without burning.  When brown, stir in ¼ cup of fresh lemon juice, a teaspoon of lemon zest, and a tablespoon of minced parsley.  Season with salt and pepper.  Place the crabs on a serving platter and spoon the lemon-butter over the top.

If you are grilling them you need to do nothing more than rinse and pat dry.  Place directly over a hot fire and grill for the same amount of time required for stovetop cooking.  I like to place lemon halves on the grill with the crab and then squeeze the hot lemon juice over the crab once cooked.

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