Asparagus with Olive Oil & Lemon

If you're in the S.E. Michigan/Northern Ohio region, chances are that you've gotten your first taste of fresh asparagus for the season already- yep, it's that time! I swung by the Ann Arbor market this past Saturday and there was a long line for fresh asparagus at the two booths selling it.

Being the formerly picky person that I am, I only recently started liking asparagus. By liking, I mean actually trying it. At any rate, I always want to buy it- it's one of the first green veggies in season in the spring that's not in the leaf greens family. I haven't accumulated that many go-to asparagus recipes; I hope to find 5-6 new ways to prepare asparagus this season. Here's one of them!

Asparagus with Olive Oil & Lemon

Ingredients
15 stalks medium sized asparagus
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 teaspoon lemon zest 

1 teaspoon lemon juiceSalt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

• Prep the asparagus by rinsing them well and cut off white bottoms and compost/trash them. Cut into 1 to 2 inch sections, slicing the asparagus at a slight diagonal angle.
• Fill a medium sized saucepan half way with water, and bring to a boil. 
• Add the asparagus and reduce heat to a simmer. 
• Boil the asparagus for 2 minutes, then drain the hot water. 
• While the asparagus are still hot, add olive oil, lemon zest and lemon juice to the pan and mix.
• Add salt and pepper to taste

Serve and Enjoy!


What's your favorite way to enjoy asparagus?

Friday Favorites

My favorite things goin' on this Friday afternoon!

Just can't get over my asparagus-induced excitement- pretty amazing veggie! 

 Every week you get so see a variation on this picture, folks, I know- sorry. 

Speckles lettuce is a work of art!

 This tulip is a bit behind the curve on blooming time :)

Chives are about to bloom! Love the pop of color they add to the garden.

 If you're anywhere where these are sold: get them, ASAP! The Chili Lime ones, specifically. 

Best. Chips. Ever.

What's Up Wednesday

Garlic is looking good- nice and tall! In about a month to a month and a half, we'll have garlic scapes!














Little carrot plants are so dang cute. I like the point when they start to get their first fern-like leaves and you remember, "oh yeah- I planted carrots here!"

The first set of Potato plants are coming up as well

Can you tell what this is, besides a terribly out of focus picture of my hand? I had to share- It's a mini, tiny asparagus stalk!!!! I was worried the plants didn't establish, but looks like they're doing well! 

What's Up in your garden today?

Asparagus, Onion, and Garlic scape Frittata

It may come as a surprise, but I'm kind of a picky eater. Most of it I attribute to trying something once when I was 8 years old, disliking it, and then refusing to try it ever again, on principle. I'm also stubborn, by the way :) So when Asparagus Season rolls around, I get creative. I am not a big fan of steamed asaparagus, asparagus in butter, etc. etc. but I DO eat asparagus if it's hidden semi-well, or chopped up into smaller pieces. Since our Farmers' Market opened in May, I have been coming up with Asparagus Hider recipes, including Asapargus Risotto and chopping up asparagus and putting it into my favorite potato salad recipe. It was time for a change tonight, so I decided to invent.

Have you ever made a frittata before? Maybe I'm weird, but I never have, and I really haven't eaten quiche or frittatas all that much. A co-worker brought in a wedge of homemade frittata today with what looked like asparagus and other deliciousness, and I decided to copy her. Maybe it wasn't so inventive but oh well.

This is also an All-Local dish, which always put a feather in my theoretic cap. Storage onions, fresh garlic scapes and asparagus, oregano from my garden. The ginger isn't local, but you can't be perfect all the time!

Asparagus, Onion, and Garlic Scape Frittata

Ingredients:

6 eggs
6 stalks of asparagus
1 garlic scape (or 1 clove of garlic)
1/2 onion
oregano to taste
rosemary to taste
ginger to taste
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. While the oven heats up, chop up the asparagus into small pieces, halve the onion, take one half, and slice it length wise into small strips, and finely slice garlic scapes, or chop up garlic. Take a small frying pan, put it on the stove, and heat up a tablespoon of olive oil. Once it's going, add the veggies mixture, and cook for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, crack the eggs into a larger bowl, add oregano, rosemary, ginger, salt and pepper, and whisk until well mixed. Add the veggie mix into the egg mix, and stir them all together.

Get out a 8x8 baking dish or a 9" pie dish, and oil lightly. Pour the fritatta mixture into the pan, and pop into the oven for 30-35 minutes, until top of frittata is golden brown. Enjoy!