Learn how to prepare and cook how to cook asparagus in a range of tasty dishes. The delicate spears of this seasonal vegetable can be blanched, griddled, roasted or served raw.
We get asparagus for as little as two months of the year, so it’s well worth making the most of it when it appears, which is somewhere from around the end of April into June. They’re thinner and usually tender all the way through. The later and thicker shoots can have very woody ends that need to be removed. Sometimes what needs to be discarded can be quite substantial, but you can use these ends to make a stock for soups and stews. Get the best from your asparagus by cooking it as soon after it’s picked as you can.
A method we’ve gleaned from restaurant cooking is called blanch and refresh. Fill a bowl with water and ice cubes and set aside. Plunge your asparagus spears into a pan of boiling water. Cook for 1-2 mins or until tender. Remove the asparagus with tongs or a slotted spoon and place directly in the bowl of ice water. Store in the fridge until needed, then simply drain and reheat in a pan with a little butter when you want to serve.