© 2018 by Rob Firing
As seasonal as I claim to be, there comes a point sometime in March when I would kill for a fresh-cut vegetable. Asparagus is the first to arrive, but I can never resist buying imports a few weeks earlier than our fabulous Ontario harvest allows for in June. The earlier the cut, the thicker the stalks. I love fat, juicy, candlestick-sized asparagus, and I’m careful to peel the skin from the lower third so I don’t have to cut much of the end away and I can enjoy every tender morsel. I eat asparagus until the pencil-sized spears peter out in July.
Here I give you what I think are the three best ways to bring out the best of this vegetable: brined and grilled, blanched, and pan-fried.