Get the best out of asparagus

Recently I received no fewer than two readers emails on one morning with tips for cooking asparagus. One of the readers wrote that he responded to my request to send asparagus tips. Now I have to admit that my memory nowadays works just a little less flawlessly than, say, twenty years ago. But was it really possible that I had forgotten to have made such a call? I walked to the newspaper bin, fished the last SaturdayNRC out and flipped to ‘my’ page. But nothing.

A little worried, I emailed both readers back to thank them for their tips and to also inquire between nose and lips by also inquiring about the reason for their writing. What turned out? Both had the call to participate in the section ‘How nice it was‘Just interpreted slightly wider. It was simply a coincidence that their emails were both about asparagus and were sent on the same day.

What was of course not coincidental about this is the fact that we are in the middle of the asparagus season. If there is one time when asparagus tips are welcome, it is time of year. The white gold is expensive enough to want to get the most delicious out of it. And with that we immediately arrive at the most important tip from both emails: cook the peels and asses.

To be honest, I do this more or less standard myself, but apparently I don’t always write that in my recipes. Anyway I usually do it that way: I first pull a broth of the peels and asses, then sieve them, and then cook the asparagus. Or to steam them above it, just how my cap looks. No, I don’t believe it matters much for the taste of the asparagus or you steam them above water or above asparagus broth. (This applies to cooking!) But during steaming the asparagus does get rid of the same water or broth. And the more asparagus flavor, the better the soup that I make with it the next day.

For making asparagus soup, now that we are busy, I also have a tip myself. Instead of sieving the Aspergebouillon, I puree the cooking wet with the peels and asses first in the blender. When you rub these asparagus crab nadien through a sieve, you have a much tastier, thicker asparagus broth. Making small roux – from butter and flour, you know – aspergebouillon, and you have brewed a simple but fantastic soup of waste.

One of the e -mailing readers also made a beautiful, traditional Limburg way of serving asparagus. For this a whole ham is brought to the boil and put in a hay box with a pan and all to let it cook. Before serving, two deep plates per person are stacked on top of each other with a picking fresh hay in between. If the asparagus and ham are on the upper plate, a good dash of hot broth is served between the two plates, making the asparagus pumping station not only a taste but also a scent sensation.

For most households may not be very practical to implement, but sometimes it is also nice to dream of something, right?

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