Tag: asparagus

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Asparagus Dreams

By Fran Hill

Spring 2022 has blown into South Dakota. Literally. We’ve battled more days of high wind warnings than sweet, warm sunshine, but I am confident that true spring will show its face soon. The lilac bushes are leafing. Lawns and pastures are greening. My irises and tulips are poking up through the flower beds, and the herb bed is showing promises of chives. I am anxious for asparagus. The soil hasn’t yet warmed enough for those tender shoots to peek up, but I hope to see them soon. I simply can’t wait.

Garden fresh asparagus is the best, and we enjoy it roasted, grilled, steamed and even raw in salads. In season, it gets tossed with pasta and sauteed in stir fries. Asparagus is also a delicious savory addition to eggs. One of our favorite egg and asparagus dishes is a popover. Much like a Dutch Baby, the skillet popover features a light egg batter that rises up the sides of a screaming hot cast-iron pan or”pops over” into a puffy pancake. Seasonal asparagus and nutty Gruyere cheese make it a meal that we love to find on our plates every spring.

Fresh asparagus is a savory addition to eggs.

Asparagus Popover

(adapted from Every Day with Rachael Ray)

1 pound asparagus

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup milk

4 eggs, room temperature

1/2 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 cup shredded Gruyere cheese (or Swiss)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Bring about 2 inches of salted water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Trim the asparagus and cut into thirds. Add the asparagus to the boiling water and blanche about 3 minutes, until tender-crisp. Drain and rinse with cold water; pat dry.

Meanwhile in a medium (10-inch) cast-iron skillet add the butter. Place the skillet into the oven to melt the butter and heat the pan.

In a medium bowl, microwave the milk on high for 30 seconds. Whisk in eggs, flour, salt and pepper.

Remove the cast-iron skillet from the oven and quickly arrange the asparagus in the bottom of the hot pan. (You don’t want the pan to cool and lose too much heat.) Pour the batter over the asparagus. Sprinkle with half of the cheese.

Return the pan to the oven and bake until puffed and golden, 18-20 minutes.

Top with remaining cheese (it should melt from residual heat, but you can return the popover to the oven for just a minute or so).

Slice into wedges to serve. (Serves 4)

Fran Hill has been blogging about food at On My Plate since October of 2006. She, her husband and their three dogs ranch near Colome.

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When Asparagus Met Pizza

By Fran Hill

Asparagus is the holy grail of spring and summer for Hubs and I. We enjoy it roasted, steamed, grilled, pickled or fresh and savor it as part of breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner at least twice a week, if not more, during the peak season. I’ve bragged about my little patch in the backyard and told of my husband’s fierce wild asparagus hunts.

Our love for asparagus might only be equal to our devotion to pizza. If we haven’t tackled a slow roasting or smoking meat project on a Sunday, you can almost be assured that pizza will be for dinner that night. We wondered why pizza and asparagus couldn’t collide for an exquisite pie of excellence.

Garlic, Bacon and Asparagus Pizza is just such a collision. Garlic is tossed in the hot grease of crispy bacon just long enough to become fragrant, and then tops our favorite thin crust, loaded with tender shavings of fresh asparagus and melty cheese. The recipe from which this masterpiece evolved originally used pancetta, but that ingredient isn’t available in every small town grocery store on the South Dakota prairie. Bacon is a staple, and a delicious substitute.

The crust has become our tried and true. Hubs and I began making pizza together from a Chef Boyardee box while dating and have journeyed through crusts both frozen and from a tube to find our home with this excellent homemade recipe that makes two thin crusts. One will keep in an oiled, covered bowl in the fridge for a couple of days to make an easy weeknight dinner, or par-bake and freeze for another time. If thick crust is your thing, use all the dough for one large pizza, but be warned that it may need to bake a little longer to cook through.

Garlic, Bacon and Asparagus Pizza

(adapted, in part, from Cooking Light)

Pizza Crust (makes 2 thin crusts):

1 cup warm water (100 to 110 degrees)

1 tablespoon sugar

1 packet (1/4 ounce or 2 1/4 teaspoons) Active Dry Yeast

2 1/2 cups flour, plus additional for shaping

1/2 teaspoon salt

olive oil

corn meal

In a 2-cup measuring cup, combine the water and sugar. Stir in the yeast. Allow to sit for 10 minutes for the yeast to bloom.

Meanwhile, in the mixing bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a bread hook, add 2 1/2 cups of flour and stir to form a well. Pour the bloomed yeast/water combination into the bowl and stir with the mixer to combine. Use a spatula to push any flour from the edges into the dough. When dough has pulled together, sprinkle in the salt and drizzle in 1-2 tablespoons olive oil. With the mixer, knead for 6-8 minutes, until smooth. Add more flour as kneading, a tablespoon at a time, if dough seems sticky. (This will depend on the weather and temperature of kitchen.)

When dough has kneaded and is smooth, pull out of mixing bowl. Coat the bowl with additional olive oil and replace the bowl. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise in a warm (but not hot) place for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 450F and place pizza stone (if using…we do have the best crispy crusts with a preheated stone) in the oven to preheat.

Meanwhile, prep the toppings.

Garlic, Bacon, and Asparagus Pizza Toppings:

5-6 slices bacon, chopped (I prefer thick cut)

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons fresh thyme

1 cup very thinly vertically sliced (shaved) asparagus (I do this with a vegetable peeler, but a mandolin would work, too. If you don’t want to tackle shaving, just cut thin asparagus spears into 2-inch pieces.)

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (shred your own for the best melt)

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (again, you should really grate your own)

freshly ground black pepper

While the dough is rising, cook the bacon pieces over medium heat, stirring occasionally to evenly brown. When the bacon is just about cooked through and crisp, add the garlic and thyme to the pan. SautÈ briefly, just to heat the garlic and release its flavor and aroma. Remove the bacon mixture from the pan and drain on a plate lined with paper towels.

After the 20-minute rise, divide dough in half and shape into a 10-12 inch round on a floured surface. Remove preheated pizza stone from oven and sprinkle with cornmeal. Arrange the crust on the stone. (Alternatively, sprinkle a pizza peel with cornmeal and arrange the crust on the peel. After toppings are added, use the peel to transfer pizza to the hot stone in the oven. Hubs has perfected this technique. I have not.)

Spread the bacon mixture evenly over the dough. Arrange shaved asparagus over bacon. Sprinkle evenly with cheeses and crack black pepper over the entire pizza. Bake 12-15 minutes until cheese is melty and bubbling and crust is golden brown. (Makes 8 slices pizza.)

Fran Hill has been blogging about food at On My Plate since October of 2006. She, her husband and their three dogs ranch near Colome.

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Wild Asparagus Secrets

By Fran Hill

Across the state, little spires are poking through the grass in roadside ditches, creek beds and under giant cottonwoods. Tender and with a flavor unlike anything from the produce section of the grocery store, wild asparagus season is upon us.

My husband always jumps into the hunt with both feet every spring. If he isn’t planting crops until dusk (and sometimes even if he is), I can guarantee that at least one night each week his return home for supper will be significantly later than he has told me it would be. However, when he walks in the door with the most gorgeous bouquet of freshly cut wild asparagus, I forgive him.

Even in the unending (but much needed) rains of Mother’s Day weekend, my asparagus warrior couldn’t stay away from stalking the stalks. He presented me with two armfuls of delicious green stems of asparagus.

As I arranged one harvest on my cutting board for a quick photo, he was genuinely alarmed that I planned to share the glory of our bounty on the Facebook page for my blog, On My Plate. Just like a hunter doesn’t want to give away the location of a trophy whitetail, Hubs holds the whereabouts of his asparagus hunting grounds close to the vest. When someone questions him about the prize asparagus patches, he usually says,”west of Minneapolis.” If pressed further, he will concede that the area is more specifically”north of Springview, Nebraska and south of I-90.”

It isn’t that difficult to find your own wild asparagus hunting ground. The plants like damp, undisturbed soil. Ditches and fence lines are common spots. In the spring, look for the dried, yellowed remains of bushy, almost tumbleweed-like growths. These are the branchy stalks of asparagus that grew up and went to seed. At the base, new sprouts will be growing.

Hubs is insistent that no matter where you hunt (and especially if you stumble into his territory) that you cut your harvest properly. Never, NEVER, just snap the heads off the stems. This tragedy essentially ends the production of the plant. Always cut asparagus shoots as close to the ground as possible. When cut at (or just below) the ground, the root will continue to send up new stalks and provide a crop to enjoy all season long.

We love to simply steam asparagus and serve with a little butter, salt, pepper and maybe a squeeze of lemon. Roasting in a hot oven after tossing with olive oil, salt and pepper is another favorite quick dinner prep for us. However, the cooler weather of this early wild asparagus season is very fitting for soup. Asparagus Ravioli in Parmesan Broth is the unlikely combination of both light and filling. The asparagus and mascarpone-filled pasta pouches could easily be drenched with a creamy sauce for a traditional pasta meal, but the rich Parmesan broth is perfect for spring. The flavors are green and earthy — everything asparagus should be.

Fran Hill has been blogging about food at On My Plate since October of 2006. She, her husband and their two dogs ranch near Colome.

Asparagus Ravioli in Parmesan Broth

(adapted from Gourmet Magazine)

1 pound asparagus, trimmed

5 cups chicken stock

1 rind from a wedge of Parmesan cheese

1 bay leaf

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup mascarpone cheese

1/4 cup fine dry bread crumbs

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1 package wonton wrappers

Cut off asparagus tips and set aside.

Bring stock, cheese rind and bay leaf to a simmer.

Add asparagus stems and cook uncovered until stems are tender.

Transfer stems to paper towels and cool slightly. Reserve broth.

Puree asparagus stems in a food processor with grated Parmesan, mascarpone, breadcrumbs, zest, and 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper.

Arrange wonton wrappers on a work surface and place 1 tablespoon of the asparagus filling in the center of each.

Working with one at a time, moisten the edges with water and lay another wrapper on top; seal the edges, pressing out any air.

Repeat with the remaining wrappers and asparagus filling.

Bring a pasta pot of salted water to a boil, then reduce to a gentle boil.

Bring reserved broth to a simmer; add asparagus tips and simmer until tender.

Season broth with salt and pepper (to taste, if needed) and divide it and asparagus tips between 6 shallow bowls; discard cheese rind and bay leaf.

Add a few of the ravioli to gently boiling water, carefully stirring to separate. Cook until pasta is tender, 2-3 minutes.

Lift ravioli with a slotted spoon, draining well over the pot, and transfer to bowls with broth.

Repeat with remaining ravioli. (Serves 6)

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New Traditions Are Rising

By Fran Hill

When I was a kid, Easter always meant ham. Of course, many Sunday dinners meant ham in my childhood home. It was easy for my mother to toss a bone-in picnic ham into the oven before loading the brood into the car and heading to Sunday school and church. Returning to the smoky, salty aroma filling the house was wonderful. Potatoes were boiled and mashed. A vegetable was prepped. Dinner rolls were warmed. Gravy was made. Easter dinner — or any random Sunday dinner — was served.

When I began hosting my own spring holiday dinners, I also leaned heavily on that big, baked ham. I experimented by adding a sweet and cidery raisin gravy, whipped spinach into my mashed potatoes, vibrant fruit salads and all the fresh asparagus I could find. Lemon and strawberry pies hit the table for dessert, and dinner was served.

These days, family and friends are pulled in many different directions every holiday. Sometimes, I get to place an eggcup with pastel-dyed eggs at each place setting of a big Easter table, and sometimes it’s just Hubs and me. With only two of us, I tend to pull away from standard dinner traditions. We might do brunch and pizza later, or maybe the Ham and Asparagus Lasagna recipe that I tried last year with the garden’s bounty of fresh asparagus.

Ham and Asparagus Lasagna has the familiar flavors of Easter dinner with the added comfort of pasta, cheese and a creamy sauce. The alluring layers are not a letdown for a special holiday table, and the dish would pair beautifully with a bright spring salad, garlicky dinner rolls, and (of course) something lemon or strawberry for dessert. Perhaps a new Easter dinner tradition could rise from Ham and Asparagus Lasagna.

Fran Hill has been blogging about food at On My Plate since October of 2006. She, her husband and their two dogs ranch near Colome.

Ham and Asparagus Lasagna

(adapted from Rachael Ray)

1 pound asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 pound lasagna noodles

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 small onion, finely chopped

1/2 cup flour (I like Wondra for sauces and gravies.)

4 1/2 cups whole milk (I may or may not have subbed heavy cream for part of this milk.)

2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese (Put away that green can and buy a wedge of real cheese to grate yourself. You won’t regret it.)

1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

1/2 pound deli-sliced baked ham, cut into 1/2-inch ribbons (Diced ham would also work.)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

Cook asparagus in the boiling water until tender (about 2 minutes). Remove from pot with a slotted spoon and drain well.

Bring the water back to a boil and cook the lasagna noodles according to package directions (about 8 minutes). Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened. Stir in the flour and cook a few minutes. Slowly whisk in the milk and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, whisking constantly, until thickened. Remove from heat; stir in half of the Parmesan and half of the nutmeg; season with salt and pepper.

Spread about 1/3 cup of the cheese sauce into a 9×13-inch baking dish. Layer 4 noodles on the sauce and top with 3/4 cup cheese sauce. Sprinkle 1/4 of the ham, 1/4 of the asparagus and 3 tablespoons Parmesan over the sauce. Repeat the layering process 3 more times. Top with the remaining noodles, cheese sauce, Parmesan and nutmeg.

Cover with foil and bake about 30 minutes. Uncover and bake 10 additional minutes. Let stand 10-15 minutes before serving. (Serves 6)

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America’s Asparagus Gap

“Where to find spring asparagus” reads the headline on the New York Magazine website. Hmmm, I’m thinking, we have a similar story in our May/June issue. Perhaps we’re not so different from our fellow journalists in the Big Apple.

So I read the New York Magazine story and learn that the writer is simply suggesting how to find asparagus at six restaurants that I’ve never heard of, including Rosemary’s, Rouge Tomate and Northern Spy Food Co., the latter of which is featuring a $27 plate of weakfish with a spring stew of fava beans, fiddleheads, asparagus, rice beans and nettle fume.

Sounds good enough, but very different from our story which suggests that you drive down a gravel road and search for wild asparagus in the ditches. It grows there because South Dakota once had more than 80,000 farms, and almost every farm had a garden. Many of the family farmsteads are gone, but the asparagus continues to spread. You just have to know where to look.

Our asparagus expert is Russ Olson, a friend from Madison who serves Lake and Moody counties in the state senate. Russ has been an asparagus hunter since his childhood days at Egan. He suggests that rookies look for last year’s left-over growth. “The old plant will be two or three feet high and look like a spindly tumbleweed,” he says. “Find that and you’ll find new growth around it.”

Russ says the asparagus stalks are ready for harvest about the time the lilacs bloom. “Snip the new shoots when they are about 10 inches high,” he says. “And leave them alone after July 4th so they can recover for next year.”

That’s our idea of an asparagus hunt. But don’t misunderstand me. I’m not knocking the New York variety. Avoiding comparisons with other states has long been one of our principal editorial goals at South Dakota Magazine. Geographic comparisons almost always devolve into snobbery, intentionally or not. I suspect that many rural Americans of both political parties cringed when Sarah Palin suggested that her rural upbringing qualified her for high political office. “We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty, sincerity and dignity,” she said. “They are the ones who do some of the hardest work in America, who grow our food run our factories and fight our wars. They love their country in good times and bad, and they are always proud of America.”

And our city friends are not hard-working, patriotic and proud?

Eighty percent of Americans have voted on this with their feet. They live in urban and suburban communities. The vast majority of our small towns, including almost every one in South Dakota, is struggling to attract young people. Not to pick on Sarah (because she’s hardly the first small-state politician or writer to romanticize the virtues of Green Acres living), but we think it’s important for rural America to avoid the practice of rural reverse snobbery. The we’re-better-than-everyone-else-ism seems to be one thing that many young people dislike about their small towns.

So we say enjoy the asparagus wherever you live — whether it be Brooklyn or Brookings or Batesland. But $27 a plate? If the price gets any higher, surely our city cousins will be cruising the dirt roads of Moody County, looking for the wild variety.

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Asparagus Stalking

By Rebecca Johnson

Food foragers unite! It’s time to start scoping out wild asparagus. For spring hunting, you can start by looking for last year’s dead asparagus bush. The new green stalks should be hiding underneath. Hunting usually starts in April or May, but things are sprouting a little earlier with the unseasonably warm weather.

Debey Senska of Forestburg sent me a photo of her first find of the year. It’s not ready to pick, but she’s excited for when it is.”In my area, it seems like when the lilacs bloom it’s time to start looking,” says Senska.”In the James River Valley the growing season will be earlier than Forestburg, and up by Aberdeen it will be later.” I’m going to keep an eye out this weekend in Yankton while hunting for morels. I saw a few lilac blooms out by the lake this week.

Senska’s hunting begins by scouting in the fall. It can be hard to spot while still in edible form, but in the fall you can look for overgrown wild asparagus. It will be about four feet tall, bushy and fernlike. Its foliage is wispy with tiny green needles. It’s too late to eat, but make note of the location and come back in the spring. Senska looks in well-drained soils near rivers, lakes, and along fence lines.”When we lived on the farm, my kids and I spent many hours hunting asparagus within a two mile range of home,” says Senska.”It even grew in the fence line of the little country cemetery where my son is now buried.”

Asparagus crop varies by the amount of snow or rain.”The water content in asparagus is almost 95%, so in a wet spring the harvest is amazing,” Senska says. It hasn’t been especially rainy so far this year, so we’ll see how it goes. If you decide to venture out this season, have fun and enjoy your free food!

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Strike It Rich

By Fran Hill

When we purchased our home, several people from the community entertained us with stories about its history. Supposedly, back in 1913 when the house was built, the owner was the proprietor of the downtown billiard parlor. Rumor has it that the off-the-record gambling that took place in the back room of his business caused the owner to hide money in the walls of the house. Our purchase of the home could be our lottery ticket to riches.

After many renovations (we are still facing many more), I can report that no money has been found in the walls. We do have a near mint condition Prince Albert can from 1918, a bottle of Three Feathers Pre-War Whiskey (blended with neutral spirits and distilled from potatoes), and several newspaper clippings, but no cold, hard cash. I have decided that aside from the riches of the original woodwork, hardwood floors, claw foot soaking tub, and wavy panes of the old windows, our best score with this house has been the established asparagus bed in the backyard.

Each spring, I clear the leaves and winter debris from the slightly weedy spot. Nobody will accuse me of being a great gardener, and if not for the bricks laid carefully in what was once confused as the outline for a grave, you might not realize that the spot holds any significance. The grass grows well, even if it is stubborn in other areas of the lawn. But, it also parts and allows the tender shoots of asparagus to break through the earth. They spike upward in various shapes & sizes. Some are thick and hearty; some are thin and spindly. All are delicious.

Several years ago, I found asparagus seedlings at an area greenhouse and rapidly snapped them up. I carefully chose a bare spot in the existing bed and planted them. Each year, they come up again, but the results have been reed thin and not really harvestable. I am not sure if I did something wrong, or if the roots just need more time to mature. Regardless, even those fern-like shoots make me happy. Fresh asparagus in my backyard is a goldmine to me.

Combining that asparagus with pasta and bacon is striking it rich. Asparagus Carbonara is the perfect creamy showcase for fresh spring asparagus. It is a simple dish that feels elegant, but is richly filling. Jackpot.

Asparagus Carbonara

(adapted from Rachael Ray)

2 large eggs
2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese (NEVER the green can. Freshly grated only for this, please.)
3/4 pound spaghetti
1 bunch asparagus, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 slices bacon, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup dry white wine (I always seem to have Pinot Grigio on hand, and this is what I use.)
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper

Beat together eggs and cheese in a large bowl. In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the pasta until al dente, adding the asparagus during the last minute of cooking. Drain; reserving 1/2 cup of cooking water. Add the hot pasta and asparagus to the egg mixture; toss to coat.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook until crisp; stir in the garlic. (Be careful not to burn, or garlic will be bitter.) Add the wine and cook until slightly reduced, about 1-2 minutes. Stir the bacon mixture into the pasta, adding enough of the reserved pasta water to moisten. Season with salt and pepper. Top with a little shredded parmesan, if desired. Serves 4.

Fran Hill has been blogging about food at On My Plate since October of 2006. She, her husband and two dogs reside near Colome.