It is the most elegant of vegetables, long and slender and delicately colored in shades of pale green and a pinky-lavender.
Asparagus is, in my opinion, best when roasted and served with sautéed shallots and slivered almonds.
It was not a staple in the meat-and-potatoes home I grew up in, and my mother did not eat it until I introduced it to her, canned, sometime in my late years of high school or early years of college.
Then, there was no stopping her, and she became a devotee, buying it fresh and walking down to the farm market with her string bag. She knew a good thing when she found it. I wonder, though, why it was never on my grandmother's table, because she loved any sort of fresh produce. We all cherish the memory of her sitting on her back steps on a summer morning, snapping off the ends of green beans or shelling peas.
I adore asparagus with ham, or inside a thin roll of puff pastry with some cheese, perhaps gruyere. In a tart, or in soup.
Because I love soup, I save the bottoms of the asparagus I eat, and use them to flavor. Only the pinkish-white ends, usually a bit tough and fibrous, end up in the compost bin. These bottom tips are actually very tasty and some chefs recommend using them in the soup. That just requires a bit more time and some extra straining.
On rare occasions, a local grocery store will offer white asparagus. It is milder and more tender than its more common green counterpart, and I try to buy it when I see it. It is white because it it grown in darkness, as this article points out. It is a bit pricey, but it's certainly worth at least one try.
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