ABC of gourmets: how to cook asparagus at home

Why such injustice? Our climate is similar in many ways to German, but if there is asparagus - a vegetable that is a subject of national pride, then in Russia, such a product is only heard and seen on TV. In April and May, the whole of Germany is obliged to eat soup from asparagus and this dessert vegetable itself is surely under the sauce of Olandez. In our lands, this delicacy appears only in cans (very losing its taste and utility) or in a state of shock freezing. We even have very experienced ladies often do not know how to cook asparagus at home. Now we fill this annoying gap.

In principle, from these tender stems (according to EU standards, a length of 22 centimeters) of white and green, you can cook anything from salads to desserts. But before you cook asparagus at home, you need to be able to choose the right one. If you are in Western Europe from the beginning of April to June 24, go to the market. Asparagus is not stored for a long time. Every day, it loses its extremely useful properties. To distinguish the fresh asparagus from the stale, rub the stalks lightly about each other. A quality vegetable produces a quiet creak. Also, the stem should be crowned with a characteristic bump - an underdeveloped flower. The lower stiff parts of the plant are sold exclusively for soup.

White asparagus differs from green only in that it grew under a black film and did not see the sun. It is considered more delicate and tasty. But the green is more fragrant and useful. In the question of how to properly prepare asparagus, there are several points. The first of these is how to canonically clean these delicate stems. The problem is that the peel covers the bottom of the stems, gradually thinning to the apex. The bud is not cleaned at all. If we pull the skin the way it does with rhubarb, we run the risk of breaking asparagus. Using a sharp knife, make a circular incision in the upper part of the stem. Then pry the skin at the base and thinly cut it.

So, how to cook asparagus at home? It must be welded. To the state of "al dente" or full readiness, this already depends on the prescriptions of the recipe. But in the matter of cooking delicate vegetables, there are also their own immutable canons. Asparagus is sold neatly tied bundles. After cleaning the tender stems, pack them as you bought them. Carefully not to squeeze, bundle in bundles of 8-12 pieces. Stems should be of equal height, so cut too high sticks at the base.

We take a narrow saucepan and pour the water so that the bunch placed there is, and the level of the liquid left bare "brushes". Now we remove the asparagus, and put the dishes on the fire. In the water we add salt, a pinch of sugar and a little butter. When it boils, set asparagus. In the question of how to cook asparagus at home, the cooking time is the determining factor. It is worth a little zazevatsya, and you do not have a dish, and kissel. Do not hold, the stems will hardly chew. We stand at the plate with a stopwatch, after all, green asparagus is cooked exactly five minutes, white - eight.

To stop the heat treatment process with residual heat, we immediately dip the bunch into the icy water. All. Now you can prepare the sauce and put the stems there for warming up, or prepare the asparagus in some other way according to the recipe. There is one more little nuance here. How to cook frozen asparagus? Do not let it thaw at all. Simply tie a bunch and boil it in water with salt, sugar and oil for ten minutes.