How to cook asparagus?

Cooking asparagus can be in many ways, but The most common way of cooking is cooking. Boiled asparagus can be eaten "as is" with butter or sauce, and can be used as a basis for salads or other dishes.

Before cooking asparagus, you need to clean it. There are two main types of asparagus - green andwhite, they are cleaned in different ways. Green asparagus is peeled down from the middle of the stem, and white - just under the tip. For cleaning asparagus, it is most convenient to use potato peeler or a special knife for cleaning vegetables.

Peeled stems should be cut from the end 1-2 cm. Then shoots need to be folded into a bundle and trim them in such a way that they are about the same length. By the way, to prepare asparagus you will be in the bundle: before cooking, you need to tie shoots into bundles of 6-10 pieces. You can use a thread for these purposes, but if you want the asparagus to be more fragrant, you can tie it with a sprig of parsley or dill.

Cook asparagus in salted water. Add to the water 2 tsp. salt and bring to a boil. If desired, you can add more sugar or honey (1 tsp) and lemon (cut into halves). When water boils, you can put asparagus in it. But here it is very important to take into account one nuance.

Asparagus tips are cooked faster than stems. therefore a bunch of asparagus should be put into the water with the tips upwards, and the tips should be above the surface of the water. It turns out that they will prepare for a pair, and as a result, the asparagus will be welded evenly.

By the way, You can cook asparagus in a special sieve. This is a cylindrical sieve with a handle. It puts a bunch of asparagus, and then sieve plunges into a pot of boiling water. When the asparagus is ready, you just need to take the sieve out of the pan and let the water drain.

The cooking time of asparagus will depend on its type and thickness of the stem. White asparagus is usually cooked longer than green asparagus: the time of cooking white asparagus - about 10-15 minutes, green enough 3-8 minutes to cook.

To check whether the asparagus is ready, pierce it with a fork or toothpick: Asparagus should be gentle, but not boiled. Too long to cook asparagus can not! The ends of the shoots during cooking should by no means become too soft or break.

Ready asparagus should be thrown in a colander and rinsed with iced water. When the water drains, the asparagus should be driedpaper towel, shift to a warmed plate and pour with oil (olive or melted cream) or sauce. Traditionally, asparagus is served with a Dutch sauce based on butter, lemon juice and yolks. This sauce perfectly emphasizes the taste of asparagus. But there are other variants of sauces and dipas to asparagus:

• 
  sour cream with finely chopped herbs and garlic;


• 
  homemade mayonnaise with lemon sauce and hot mustard;


• 
  melted Camembert cheese;


• 
  olive oil with grated parmesan cheese;


• 
  natural unsweetened yogurt with finely chopped garlic and chives;


• 
  melted butter with parsley and chopped steep egg;


• 
  pesto sauce with olive oil;


• 
  olive oil with fried pine nuts or cashews.

Of course, there are other ways to cook asparagusbesides cooking. It can be marinated, steamed, baked, added to omelets and risotto, soups and pasta, used as a filling for pies and casseroles, make fritters out of it ... The main thing is to observe the basic rule of cooking asparagus: no matter how you cook it (cooking, stewing, languishing), cooking asparagus should not be too long.