What’s that wacky German food? Spargel
It’s here! Spargelzeit is here! What, you mean you don’t celebrate asparagus time where you live?
The Germans are crazy about white asparagus, a special breed that grows underground and is only harvested for a couple months each spring. Restaurants have special menus featuring white asparagus done every which way, and all the fruit and veggie stands display big piles of it, as if it’s the only thing worth eating this time of year. Preparing this Teutonic vegetable is relatively easy, but there are a few things you should know before doing it for the first time.
Buying Spargel
You want fresh stalks with tight, compact heads. Look at the cut end of the stalk to gauge freshness – if it is very dry, split and woody, you don’t want it. Prices for the best asparagus can be quite high, over €12/kilo, but during the middle of the season you can pick up some good asparagus for much lower than that.
Unlike most vegetables, smaller is not better when it comes to white asparagus. Don’t shy away from stalks with a larger diameter – they are generally considered to be higher quality than small ones, and they are definitely easier to peel.
If the place where you’re buying asparagus offers to peel it for you (sometimes there’s a machine, and sometimes a cute old lady does it), by all means take them up on it, as long as you plan on eating the asparagus the same day. This will save you a lot of labor in the kitchen.
Prepping Spargel
This is where you’ll be thankful you didn’t go for those tiny stalks. Use a vegetable peeler to peel the entire outside of the white asparagus except for the head (you can start a couple centimeters below the head and be fine). Be gentle – the stalks are delicate. Some people recommend cradling the stalk in your forearm as you peel, but I find it’s easier to just hold them in my hand, without gripping too close to the head. You’ll also want to chop a little off the cut ends – just a centimeter or so, depending on how fresh it looks. Try to get all the split, woody-looking part off. Don’t use the snapping method that is sometimes recommended for green asparagus - you’ll end up wasting a lot of the good part of the white asparagus if you do that.
Cooking Spargel
This is where things get easy again: treat the white asparagus like any other vegetable that needs to be cooked to a certain softness (like green asparagus, broccoli, or carrots). I usually steam or roast my spargel; boiling is quick and easy, too.
Serving Spargel
Once I’ve gone through all that effort to make white asparagus, I want to actually taste it, so I usually serve it rather simply: with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and a dash of salt and pepper. You can also drizzle a little olive oil on, or grate a little parmesan cheese over it, or serve it with Hollandaise sauce. If you have broken, less attractive stalks, you can make a white asparagus risotto or white asparagus soup with them.
So, how do you like your spargel?
