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Asparagus in April

© Sonia Michaels

I always know spring is here when the asparagus arrives. As long as asparagus season lasts, we’ll be eating it at least three times a week—slim, snappy green stalks or thick, juicy white ones, I don’t care. Even my veg-o-phobe husband will eat the stuff without complaining about it. I’m not particularly ambitious with asparagus, either—we usually just eat it steamed (but still crisp!), with a garlic-lemon vinaigrette. Now, though, it’s down to 99c a pound around here, so I’m ready to be creative, and try Italian and Cal-Ital asparagus recipes that I would never consider in the winter, when it’s at least $4 a pound if you’re lucky enough to find it at all.

Pesto, Pasta and Pizza
Michael Chiarello (of the Tra Vigne restaurant in the Napa Valley and the PBS “Season by Season” program) has recently opened the “Napastyle.com” site, which contains lots of great recipes, including one for asparagus pesto. Once, I would have considered it sacrilege to put asparagus through a food processor, but this recipe is so good that I’ll willingly send a few more bunches to the slaughter. Chiarello’s recipe for “Asparagus Pesto with Tiny Potatoes and Pasta” can be found at http://www.seasonbyseason.com/recipes/as... (Now, I’ve just got to get my hands on some of that “gray salt” that seems to go into just about all of Chiarello’s recipes!).

I’m not usually a fan of really strong blue cheeses, but I’ve recently developed a taste (albeit an expensive one) for Gorgonzola. I’ve also discovered that penne or rotini pasta tastes just amazing when I toss it with a couple of ounces of crumbled gorgonzola, a handful of toasted walnut pieces, and one-inch pieces of asparagus.

A recent issue of “Bon Appetit” magazine offered a recipe for Asparagus and Goat Cheese Pizza—nice and easy because it uses refrigerated pizza crust dough. That recipe can be found at http://www.epicurious.com/run/recipe/vie... A search for “asparagus” at http://www.epicurious.com returns 146 results—there has to be something there for just about everyone!

Eggs
If you’re not keeping a tight rein on the cholesterol (if you like eating Mediterranean-style, you shouldn’t need to!), throw together an asparagus frittata. Five or six eggs—depending on their size—will make a main dish for two or three hungry people, or an appetizer for four or five. I sometimes add onions and mushrooms to mine, but it’s great with just the asparagus (leftovers, or blanched) and a little minced garlic, cooked in lots of extra-virgin olive oil. Start it on the stovetop (I do, anyway), then finish it in the oven so it gets puffy—maybe grate some good parmesan on top?

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