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Think green -- think asparagus

Recipe: Celebrate the new season with an easy vegetable side

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Kathy Morrison PUBLISHED MAR 21, 2021

White plate with green asparagus and red bowl with mustard sauce — Fresh asparagus heralds the change of season. (Photos: Kathy Morrison)

I'm so happy to see asparagus show up. It means spring is arriving and all the other great vegetables of the season will soon follow.

Grilled asparagus is my favorite, but roasted is right behind. And with propane still hard to find (thanks, Covid-19), I'd just as soon use my oven as much as possible now to cook and hope I can fire up the grill for real later.

Asparagus stalks, a leek, some parsley and a small cup of capers — Thicker asparagus stalks stand up to roasting.

This roasting recipe, adapted from one by the New York Times' Melissa Clark, specifically calls for fatter asparagus stalks, which I prefer anyway. I grew up in Stockton, which once was the center of asparagus farming in California. Something about that Delta soil, I think.

Fatter asparagus comes from plants just beginning to produce, and though a thick stalk has a tough end, its flesh actually is more tender than a thin one. I tend to snap the ends off, because I don't have the patience to peel the stalks. The ends can be saved to make soup or can be steamed and chopped to add to other dishes.

The sauce here is optional but it is excellent. Just saying. And don't skip the fresh lemon juice -- it cuts through the richness of the Dijon mustard beautifully.

Roasted asparagus with crispy leeks and capers

Serves 3-4 as a first course or side

Ingredients:

1 pound thick asparagus stalks (1/2-inch diameter or larger), ends trimmed

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Asparagus, leeks and capers on baking pan — The vegetables are easy to prepare and roast.

1 large leek, cleaned and trimmed to the light green and white part, then split lengthwise and thinly sliced

2 tablespoons drained capers

1 lemon, halved, then cut into 8 wedges (some will be used in the sauce)

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

For sauce:

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons drained capers, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions:

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Place trimmed asparagus on a rimmed baking sheet and toss with 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Put the leek slices in a bowl and stir in the other 1 tablespoon olive oil and a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Scatter the leeks over the asparagus on the pan, then scatter the capers over that.

Roast the asparagus 12-18 minutes, until the asparagus is tender and showing some golden brown.

Make the sauce while the asparagus is roasting. Stir together the mustard, capers and garlic in a bowl, then slowly stir in, 1 at a time, the 2 tablespoons of olive oil until it forms a thickish emulsion. Squeeze the juice from two of the lemon wedges into the sauce, and stir until combined. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

Mustard sauce in a red bowl, lemon slices and parsley — I got a little carried away when cutting up the lemon.

Slicing each half into fourths is sufficient. Two
wedges of juice are used in the sauce.

When the asparagus comes out of the oven, squeeze two or three of the remaining lemon wedges over the stalks, then sprinkle the parsley over them.

Serve with the mustard sauce and the remaining lemon wedges on the side.

I highly recommend serving small white beans with this if it is part of a full meal -- the beans play especially well with the leeks and the mustard.

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RECIPE

A recipe for preparing delicious meals from the bounty of the garden.

Keywords:

recipe recipes lemon spring vegetables gardening Sacramento garlic Stockton produce management spring farm to fork asparagus leeks

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Garden checklist for week of April 19

After this midweek storm, start getting serious about spring gardening. Flowers are blooming about three weeks ahead of schedule. That includes weeds!

* Get ready to swing into action in the vegetable garden – if you haven’t already. As nights warm up over 50 degrees, set out tomato, pepper and eggplant transplants.

* From seed, plant beans, beets, cantaloupes, carrots, corn, cucumbers, melons, radishes and squash; wait on pumpkins until May. Plant onion sets.

* In the flower garden, plant seeds for asters, cosmos, celosia, marigolds, salvia, sunflowers and zinnias. Transplant petunias, zinnias, geraniums and other summer bloomers.

* Plant perennials and dahlia tubers for summer bloom. Late April is about the last chance to plant summer bulbs, such as gladiolus and tuberous begonias.

* Transplant lettuce and cabbage seedlings.

* April is the last chance to plant citrus trees such as dwarf orange, lemon and kumquat. These trees also look good in landscaping and provide fresh fruit in winter.

* Smell orange blossoms? Give citrus trees a low dose of balanced fertilizer (such as 10-10-10) during bloom to help set fruit. Keep an eye out for ants. If leaves look yellow, your tree may need an iron boost -- apply some chelated iron fertilizer.

* Apply slow-release fertilizer to the lawn.

* Thoroughly clean debris from the bottom of outdoor ponds or fountains.

* Spring brings a flush of rapid growth, and that means your garden needs nutrition. Give shrubs and trees a slow-release fertilizer. Mulch with a 1-inch layer of compost, which helps the soil, but keep it a few inches away from trunks and stems.

* Azaleas and camellias looking a little yellow? If leaves are turning yellow between the veins, give them a boost with chelated iron.

* Trim dead flowers but not leaves from spring-flowering bulbs such as daffodils and tulips. Those leaves gather energy to create next year's flowers. Also, give the bulbs a fertilizer boost after bloom.

* Pinch chrysanthemums back to 12 inches for fall flowers. Cut old stems to the ground.

* Mulch around plants to conserve moisture and control weeds.

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