No matter what the silly temperature gauge says, and I know this because of asparagus.
That’s right. Asparagus season is upon us, and this early harbinger of fresh green things is probably one of my favorite vegetables, despite the rather potent effect it has on the kidneys. My favorite is asparagus sautéed with a little butter and dressed with a scraping of salty-sweet parmesan cheese, but sometimes one must branch out.
One of my favorite things to do is play Iron Chef in my own kitchen (or that of the family for whom I’m currently babysitting), and this tends to happen mostly right before Grocery Day. In the process of cleaning out the fridge of uneaten leftovers and far-gone components to make room for the new, it always makes me sad to see veggies, bought with such good intentions, gone to rot. I make a lot of soup to avoid this problem, and last night’s dinner was another attempt to use up some things that had been lingering and also to use one of the unsung heroes of the kitchen. I know mine doesn’t get as much love as it should.
The broiler is your friend. It’s quick, it doesn’t produce nearly as much heat as baking or roasting, and isn’t as messy as cooking on the stove. If you would like to create the delicious asparagus-on-toast thing that we had for dinner last night, here’s what you’ll need:
- 1 bunch fresh asparagus, trimmed to fit your bread (see below)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 fresh lemon, juiced
- 2 thick slices of a hearty bread or a large roll, halved
- 1/2 c. fresh ricotta cheese, divided
- 2 cloves garlic, minced fine and divided
- salt and pepper to taste
And here’s what you do:
Take your trimmed asparagus bits and put them in a container in which they can lay flat. Mix the olive oil and lemon juice together and pour over the ‘gus, and let sit for 10-15 minutes.
Turn on your broiler and remove the tray. Cover the bottom with a piece of tinfoil and lay out your bread. Return the tray to oven and broil just until bread gets a little toasty (2-3 min).
Remove bread from broiler and let cool. Spread the ricotta cheese evenly over each piece of bread (and feel free to add more or less here), then sprinkle the minced garlic and a little salt and pepper over the tops.
Drain the liquid from your asparagus bits, and arrange them nicely on top of your toasts. You can even push them into the pillow of cheese a bit so they stick. Once all the bits are placed, return the tray to the broiler and let it go until you can see some nice caramelization happening on the veggies and the cheese is beginning to brown (7-8 min).
Remove from broiler, let cool a moment, cut into quarters, and serve. The asparagus will be tender on the outside, but still crisp inside, and the lemony zing should marry well with the mild sweetness of the ricotta and the sulfur-rich garlic. We didn’t take much care in toasting our bread (the leftovers of our usual homemade sandwich loaf) or trimming the spears, so it made it a little unwieldy to eat. Take our mistakes as pointers, and enjoy!