Asparagus two ways

Asparagus for a natural body flush

When I buy asparagus, I prepare two different dishes from these lovely green spears into: I boil the tender halves and serve them with a dressing together with meat or fish dishes and I use the lower halves to make a luscious asparagus-cream-soup.

The first time I cooked asparagus here in Goa I just cut off the end of the stems, boiled it and served it with some melted butter. As a good German I had no quivers at all to eat the full length of the vegetable. My Italian husband however just cut off the tender tips and left the rest to be thrown away…this quite shocked me. I cannot deny my austere German character traits: I hate wasting anything, especially expensive food. So the next time I just served only the tender bits and used the lower parts to make soup – which my spoiled husband ate happily without complaints.

The tips of the vegetable are the best parts, but very delicate. Fresh asparagus has green tips which look alive and healthy. If the tips are dark or withered, don’t bother to spend the money for it. When you buy asparagus, make sure the vendor carefully covers the tips of the spears in a plastic bag. Then put the asparagus bundles on top of your other shopping so it does not get damaged. You absolutely have to cook asparagus the day you are buying it to get the best from this rather expensive treat. Serve the vegetable immediately. The base for the soup can be stored in the fridge for up to a week.

The Indian variety of asparagus has little to do with what we grow in Bavaria, Germany. In my ‘Vaterland’ asparagus is a highly priced delicacy which is available only during harvest time around June. The Bavarian asparagus is white in color and at least a finger thick. In India green asparagus is cultivated. It is harvested when it is really thin, almost all year round. Just yesterday I found fresh asparagus here in the market. Although it looks tiny, the taste is great and it flushes out excess water from your body.

By the way, it is really difficult to give exact amounts for asparagus. In India, this vegetable is sold in bundles whose sizes vary largely. I would propose you buy at least one bundle per head when you prepare asparagus for your family.

Wishing you happy cooking, always!

Kornelia Santoro with family

 Luscious Asparagus-Cream-Soup

   
Ingredients (for 4 servings):

• the lower halves of 4 bundles of asparagus
• 1 packet (0.2 liter) of cream
• salt
• pepper

How to prepare asparagus-cream-soup:

Take the asparagus stems and cut them into small pieces, as small as you can. Bring the water from cooking the upper halves to a boil, drop the asparagus pieces into it and let them simmer for 5 minutes. If you don’t want to serve the soup immediately, you can let this broth cool down and store it in the fridge for up to one week. To finish the soup, smash the asparagus pieces with a blender stick (or fill the broth into a blender and crush the vegetable pieces). Now pour the cream into the soup, combine everything well and bring it to a quick boil. If the liquid is not enough for 4 servings you might need to add some water and salt according to your taste. Pour the soup into 4 bowls, garnish with liberal quantities of freshly grated pepper and serve.

 Boiled Asparagus

Ingredients (for 4 servings):

• the upper halves of 4 bundles of asparagus
• water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• pepper
• 50 grams butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

How to prepare boiled asparagus:

Keep the bundles of asparagus tied up and cut off 3 centimeters from the end of the spears. Discard these pieces. Now rinse your asparagus well with water, align it and cut off half of the stems. Boil the half with the tips to serve as vegetable.

For boiling, put the asparagus in a sufficiently big pot which allows the spears to lie down easily. Then cover them with water. Add the salt and sugar and the olive oil. The sugar balances any bitterness from the asparagus and the oil helps our bodies absorb the precious nutrients. Bring the water to a boil and simmer the spears for 5 to 10 minutes. If you want them to have a bit of bite, boil 5 minutes or even less; if you want them really soft let them simmer for 10 minutes. 

Drain the stems and put them on a plate for serving. Keep the cooking water for the soup. Melt the butter, pour it over the asparagus and serve immediately. You can grate some black pepper over it. This is one of the ways Germans eat their asparagus

My husband however prefers boiled asparagus with a vinaigrette sauce. For this simply dissolve half a teaspoon salt in a tablespoon of red wine vinegar. Mix well with 3 tablespoons olive oil, dress the boiled asparagus with this and serve immediately.

  

A Natural Diuretic

Asparagus is a very good source of potassium (288 mg per cup) and quite low in sodium (19.8 mg per cup). Its mineral profile, combined with an active amino acid in asparagus, asparagine, gives asparagus a diuretic effect. Although some popular articles on asparagine link this amino acid to the distinct urinary odor that can follow along after consumption of asparagus, research studies suggest that this odor stems from a variety of sulfur-containing compounds. Historically, asparagus has been used to treat problems involving swelling, such as arthritis and rheumatism, and may also be useful for PMS-related water retention.

Food for Healthy Gut Flora

Asparagus contains a special kind of carbohydrate called inulin that we don't digest, but the health-promoting friendly bacteria in our large intestine, such as Bifidobacteria and Lactobacilli, do. When our diet contains good amounts of inulin, the growth and activity of these friendly bacteria increase. And when populations of health-promoting bacteria are large, it is much more difficult for unfriendly bacteria to gain a foothold in our intestinal tract.

Especially if you're thinking about becoming pregnant or are in the early stages of pregnancy, make asparagus a frequent addition to your meals. A cup of asparagus supplies approximately 263 mcg of folate, a B-vitamin essential for proper cellular division because it is necessary in DNA synthesis. Without folate, the fetus' nervous system cells do not divide properly. Inadequate folate during pregnancy has been linked to several birth defects, including neural tube defects like spina bifida. Despite folate's wide availability in food (it's name comes from the Latin word folium, meaning "foliage," because it's found in green leafy vegetables), folate deficiency is the most common vitamin deficiency in the world.