Oh no! What do I do with asparagus stems?

That was exactly the question I asked myself today, seeing a plastic bag of asparagus stems left over from when I made salad (see last post).

Here is an answer. Make a noodle soup.

Getting-Rid-of-Asparagus-Stems Noodle Soup, with Fried Tofu.

Ingredients:

- 1 package Asian rice noodles; I suggest something thick, like udon or soba.
- 1 bunch scallions
- 1 large cucumber (pick a dark green one; the seeds won't be as pronounced)
- 1 fistful of ginger stem (that is, a sufficiently large piece to fit in a fist!)
- leftover asparagus stems
- 1 package Egg Drop Soup mix (or Miso, depending on your taste)
- soy sauce
- honey
- sesame oil to taste
- chopped peanuts (I didn't actually use this, but as I think about it, I should have!)

.. and for the tofu:

- 1 package firm tofu (firm is important; you don't want to fish out silken tofu out of hot oil!)
- 2 large eggs (never mind whether they are animals or not)
- hot sauce
- plenty of vegetable oil (for obvious reasons)

The broth / soup: What you would expect. Wash the asparagus stems, then chop the living daylights out of zem! Be nicer to the ginger: chop them into matchsticks.

Now take a pan with a large bottom, put to high heat, and sear the asparagus as you would in the case of a salad (again, see last post). Move the stems to one side of the pan, and add the ginger in the presence of vegetable oil. Let sizzle for a moment or two, then blend the two together.

When the mixture appears a little dry, reduce to medium heat and add water .. say the volume of one noodle bowl. When that begins to boil, add another and repeat. Do so until you'll have enough broth for everyone.

When you're ready to put the noodles to boil, add in the soup mix, and leave to a simmer until the noodles are ready. When all is ready, use a strainer to remove the ginger and stems pieces.

The cucumbers: Again, this is a searing / saute technique. In a bowl, add 1/4 cup soy sauce, a few shakes of sesame oil, and a teaspoon of honey. Mix well.

Peel the cucumbers and slice into .. well, slices, say 1/4" thick.

Take a small pan and put under high heat. While waiting, dip a few cucumber slices into the bowl mixture. When the pan is ready, sear the cucumber slices on both sides; there should be sufficient color while retaining a crisp texture.

If you're deft, you can dip a new batch while searing the old. If not, ask someone for help or lower the heat to buy yourself time. No sense in burning good cucumbers.

The tofu. There should be a little soy sauce mixture left, after searing the cucumber. Break the two eggs and blend it together. Drain the tofu and slice lengthwise, then across to form 12 slices.

Take a small saucepan (~ 1 quart size) and fill up to 1 inch with vegetable oil. Push to high heat, and keep the oil at a ready temperature ..

(bubbles should form when a chopstick is dipped into the oil)

Now take each tofu slice, dip into the egg-sauce mixture, and with pot lid ready in the other hand, add to the pot of oil. Beware the sizzle and spatter; use the pot lid as a shield, if necessary.

When the tofu slice is browned and floating happily, drain on paper towels. Too much oil is bad for you.

Do the same until the tofu is all done. If you avoid waste, take the remaining egg mixture and make a small omelette with some chopped scallions.

(say, on that same small pan you used for cucumbers)

When the omelette is done, slice into strips for the noodle bowls.

Presentation. To each noodle bowl, put a helping of noodles, then on the side add a share of seared cucumbers, then sprinkle with scallions. Add a measure of the Egg Drop Asparagus-Stem soup, then add crushed peanuts and a few pieces of fried tofu on top.

All told, you didn't really need the asparagus stems in the broth, but at least you can tell your guests that there is asparagus in the soup. It makes for good conversation, at least.

Brief Post: Asparagus Salad.

Spurred on by Jo, I will post again.

Terrible really, that it took me this long to jot down a single recipe for posterity! But for the record, most of my culinary creations of the last few weeks have been mediocre and simple to make, at best. Jose and Alan seem to like them, though, so perhaps that is the best test!

This is a quick recipe from last week, and it sounds exactly like its name. I apologize if I've forgotten any ingredients; add what you like.

Salad greens with Roasted Asparagus

Ingredients:

- 1 head green leaf lettuce (or your favorite field green vegetable; yuppy choices like escarole and endive aren't bad);
- 1 medium red bell pepper, julienned;
- 1 clementine or small orange, peeled and sectioned and seeds removed;
- 1 bunch asparagus, prepared (details to come)

I'll leave the dressing to you, though I suggest against anything creamy; it defeats the whole purpose of adding the clementine, which should give a fresh sweetness against the bitter tang of winter!

On how to prepare asparagus.

There's no canonical way of preparing this vegetable, but here is one method which seems reasonable trustworthy.

Stemming: Given an asparagus stalk, the best way to determine how much to remove from the stem is quite fun, actually. You take each stalk, hold it by both ends with both hands, hold the head tip steady, and bend the stem to the head tip until the stalk snaps. The division occurs precisely where the stalk is tough and untender.

Don't throw away the stems! Chopping and boiling them gives a good start to a pleasant vegetable broth. In fact, this is a general principle: just as how you might trim meats and poultry, take the remainder from this excision and boil them for broth.

Saute with Delayed Oil. For the record, I lied. You need some herbs for this, preferably dried (because they are lighter and adhere better to olive oil). I suggest thyme or oregano, and maybe a sparing of red pepper flakes. Add salt if you like, but don't overdo it; the asparagus will already wilt from the saute heat.

With these naturally stemmed stalks of asparagus, now snap them into fork-sized pieces. Heat a pan at high heat without oil at first, and when it is ready ..

(drip a few beads of water onto the pan; they should sizzle immediately)

.. just toss the asparagus in. Shake the pan every minute for a few minutes, until the asparagus begins to have seared spots on them. Then sprinkle with oil, and while it hisses, coat the asparagus with your chosen batch of herbs. Then give the pan a good shake, and this should be enough to coat each piece with oil and herbs.

Keep on high heat, shaking the pan regularly. When you think it's done, it's done. Then use as a salad ingredient with the others.

Red Lentil Dal Curry

Oh man, this was good. I referenced some recipes on the internet beforehand, but here's roughly what I did. Rinse and boil red lentils to not quite mush (transluscent on the edges). In fat (I used butter, ghee would be most authentic I guess, some recipes called for oil but where's the fun in that), roast spices: cumin, tumeric, mustard. Sautee in ginger, garlic, onion, sliced chili, salt. Add cooked beans (monitor how much water goes in with them, depending on the consistency of beans when added and the final consistency you're aiming for) and sliced tomato. Simmer until soupy and soft. I was missing a lot of ingredients (mustard, chili, tomato, cilantro) but it still came out good. To compensate for the missing cilantro, I added a bit of coriander to the spices. I missed having soft slices of tomato floating around; that with green cilantro would have made for beautiful presentation. Best over basmati (I ate it with leftover brown rice). Indians are experts at vegetarian food. Dal curry's my favorite: basic, homey, delicious. OK Jasun we're three for three. Granted, your entries are multi-part meals whereas mine are only one or two dishes. Still, I'm not posting anymore until you do!

Ode to Beets

Beets are best roasted, but I steamed them this time around since I wanted to hardsteam some eggs at the same time.

Fresh beets come with large leaves which I find delicious. Raw they have a strong, salty flavor; I made sure to taste a bit before cooking the rest for the recipe given here. I lopped the leaves into manageable pieces and sauteed them in butter, plus a little red wine on a whim, to eat over pasta (full-bodied whole wheat spaghettini) with parmesan cheese. Thick, fibrous red ribs run down the center of the leaves--I should have cut those smaller or cooked them longer than the green parts, otherwise they present a chewing challenge. The red and green over brown-dyed-red pasta results in dramatic presentation. I accompanied this with the root part of the beet, which in retrospect I think would have been nice drizzled with a white sweet cream thing, maybe creme fraiche or ricotta mixed with a little sour cream for oomph.

I was hardsteaming the eggs to go into a potato salad I was making for lunch the next day. Potato salad is by nature vegetarian and there are a million ways to make it. Inspired by Jose's salads, I cooked carrots along with the potatoes this time (also because I had only one potato) and that came out good. Of the selection of salty things one can add (olives, capers, relish) I used only olives this time around. Turns out I had leftover beets to eat with the potato salad today, and they made a good match--I mused that one could make a potato-salad-esque thing with beets as a base, and then realized that maybe I'd eaten something like that before, and forgotten.

With beets, be warned: red gets everywhere--in the kitchen, and in your system! I asked Arvind, from India, about a rumor I'd heard that hardcore Jain people who wouldn't eat beets because they're just too "bloody," but he didn't think it was true.