Asparagus with Parmesan Butter

Alleulia…it’s asparagus season. I can’t get enough of it. I like to roast vegetables, including asparagus. Massage stalks with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and roast until just beginning to turn brown.

Saveur magazine suggests skillet prep: Snap tough bottoms from the asparagus spears. For 2 pounds of asparagus, put 2 tablespoons of butter in a skillet. When foam subsides, add asparagus and shake pan to coat the spears. Cover and shake occassionally for about 3 minutes. Uncover and cook until asparagus is tender — 5 to 10 minutes depending on thickness of spears. Season with salt and pepper.

But, if you want more pizzazz with your asparagus, try the following recipe with Parmesan. Recipe serves 4.

1 pound asparagus, ends trimmed

3 tablespoons butter, room temperature

1/2 cup (packed) grated Parmesan cheese (about 2 1/2 ounces)

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried

1 large garlic clove, chopped

1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Cook asparagus in a large pot of boiling salted water until just crisp tender. Drain well and arrange asparagus on broiler proof platter.

Preheat broiler. Beat butter in medium bowl until fluffy. Beat in cheese, basil, garlic and lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Drop butter mixture by teaspoonfuls over asparagus.

Broil asparagus until topping browns, watching closely to avoid burning, about 3 minutes. Serve hot.

I used to live in Germany where Spargel Zeit (asparagus season) borders on sacred. Spargel for Germans is not ordinary green asparagus, but pearly white asparagus grown underground, sheltered from the sun. Row after row of small mounds of dirt blanket the fields. When the earth cracks and a spear is about to pop through, spargel is delicately dug up by “guest workers,” who come from other lands for the harvest.

It’s time consuming labor, as is preparing spargel which must be peeled before it is cooked.

Germans crave it, prepared at home or served in restaurants. The traditional and popular way to savour the delicacy is with boiled potatoes, ham or schnitzel and hollandaise sauce. I crave it too. White asparagus is found in southern France where I now live, but it can’t compare with genuine German spargel.

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