I usually steam mine in the microwave then serve drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.

I often use asparagus in risotto as well.

Pretty plain for me, usually just roasted or grilled with olive oil and salt. A little while back I tried sous vide and that was really good. Trying to think of anything more involved I’ve done has me remembering that I used to make negimaki (sp?) with asparagus pretty regularly. Haven’t thought about that in years!

Kind of OT, but what makes a pie “impossible”? I hear the term once in a while, like some impossible coconut cream pie my MIL makes.

FOAS ... the bisquick mix makes the crust ... seemingly impossible

(for those of us pie crust-challenged peeps with hot Hands)

an impossible taco pie is nice too ...

I like asparagus tips with cheese on rolled bread points or in croissants baked in the oven too ... or wrap the asparagus in bacon and broil them ...

I sometimes get all weepy and defiant about the terrible waste of discarding half of the already expensive asparagus.

All that nutrition not going to starving children in Africa! That was the standard chastisement for bad little kids who didn’t eat their dinner, I think. It wasn’t used in my family, because there were plenty of hungry children in China from which my elders felt not very far removed.

Also, in my particular case, once upon a time my father compelled me to finish the entire heaping plate of - was it fried chicken? - that I had ordered. Ordered thoughtlessly and with disregard for starving children anywhere, and was now proposing to leave selfishly uneaten, you see. He wasn’t going to be the father of a child like that! and I WOULD finish every bit of what I remember as a giant pile of food. Which I did. And then I repaid him with not one but three impressive bouts of projectile vomiting, that had him frantically carrying me from filled sink to fresh sink. After that, I was never more than gently encouraged to consider food waste in my personal 7 year old choices.

Despite that slack upbringing, I am not a monster! So throwing out perfectly edible food sometimes bothers me.

(Other times I breezily snap and toss away, distracted by my first world problems - Oo, why won’t my iPhone’s FaceID unlock when I’m wearing my corona mask - while the ghosts of those starving children glower.)

So I peel the woody outer layer off the discarded ends of the asparagus, briefly cook the peeled stubs, then puree with a little salt, olive oil, garlic, and lemon juice/zest to make a . . .

I don’t know what it is called. But it is cheerfully colorful and tasty, and you can spread it on anything from toast to tri tip, while patting yourself on the back.

Since we started composting, I notice a lot more asparagus ends getting tossed.

I LOVE Asparagus Risotto .

Same for me with roasting or grilling.

Ina G. has a tasty Portobello Mushroom Lasagna recipe. I've added pieces of asparagus to the layers.

Just remembering my mom would roll out bread slices to flatten (crusts removed), spread with a garlic-herb cream cheese mixture and roll up with an asparagus spear inside. Brush with melted butter and bake till golden. Tasty appies.

John, a friend of mine (who is a writer/director and film editor) hosted a party in Hollywood that I went to one time, and when he found an abandoned half-consumed bottle of beer, he exclaimed, "Who left this bottle?! Don't you know there are sober children in India?"

I've been making several asparagus dishes lately, including chicken avgolemono soup with hilopites and asparagus. I use the tough asparagus stems in the broth and then strain them out or puré them. The tips go in last.

I often make a Vietnamese crab asparagus soup, if I have crab and asparagus on hand.

This is by far my favorite asparagus dish - always requested for potlucks:

I add the vinegar just before serving as it can blanch the asparagus. If I make more than needed for a meal, I store the asparagus and vinegar/ginger mixture separately and add them together when needed. This dish tastes good the next day, but the asparagus turns a lighter, less attractive color of green once the vinegar is added.

from Mollie Katzen

chloebud - I wonder if I put leftover asparagus tips on top when I baked my crab rangoons (canned crab, wontons, cream cheese, herbs, garlic powder) they would taste like your mom's app?

Nancy, does "leftover" mean the asparagus has already been cooked? If not, I think it would be great and even better with the crab. Right now asparagus is 99 cents a pound here so we have it often. :-)

I chop the ends very finely, and simmer with chicken broth. Purée, strain, and chill. Mix with a bit of sour cream, and place the lightly steamed and chilled tips in a spiral, with crispy fried purple onions in the center to serve on top of the soup.

—-Linda

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