Asparagus Season

It's a fleeting time around here when fresh, local asparagus is available, so I always go a little crazy when it happens. I bought an enormous pile of the beautiful, vibrantly green stalks a few days ago, so crisp and fresh still they made a loud pop! when I snapped their stems. The first night, as is my tradition, I lightly steamed the stalks and we ate them with butter. (Yes, butter! My Amish and New England Dairy Farmer ancestry rears its head from time to time.)

Ahhh. Delicious!

Once I had the ceremonial First Feast completed, I was ready to contemplate other ways to fix asparagus. Vegan Infusion has a two recipes for it, so the next night I chose to try Anakin's Asparagus, partly because it looked delicious and partly because my kids are big Star Wars fans; I thought the name might encourage them to try it! Miraculously, I had everything on hand for the recipe except for a fennel bulb and fresh dill. I substituted diced red onion, which is certainly not the same flavor as fennel but does go well with the other ingredients. Instead of the dill I used fresh lemon thyme, which is going crazy in my garden just now. The results? Amazing! Really, really delicious, and very quick to make. So here's how:

Anikin's Asparagus

Ingredients:

12 large asparagus spears
1 large red bell pepper, julienned
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp fennel bulb, chopped small
1Tbsp garlic, minced
1 Tbsp lemon juice, fresh squeezed (I actually used the juice of the whole lemon...)
1 1/2 tsp dill, minced
1 tsp Shoyu (optional)
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
Pinch crushed red pepper flakes
* Sea salt to taste
* Black pepper, ground to taste

Loving Preparation*:

1. Steam asparagus until just tender. Drain and place on serving platter.

2. Place oil in a saute pan on medium high heat. Add bell pepper, fennel and garlic, cook until peppers are just soft, approximately 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add remaining ingredients, mix well and pour over asparagus.

We ate this with a quinoa pilaf of my own creation and leftover quiche. A truly devine Spring meal! My husband and 10-year-old both liked it (hilarity about the physiological effects of asparagus notwithstanding), and my 4-year-old even ate "the red stuff, but NOT the green stuff"!

I'll definately be making this again, so I give it all four carrots--or is it five? Not sure if we've settled on our rating system yet! But Dawn's going to have to show me how to put them in my posts...

~Sophie

* You've got to love a book that demonstrates this appreciation for the cooking process!