Ever tried asparagus? What does asparagus taste like? How did you like it?
Often, many people make promises to themselves on eating better and getting in shape. So how can asparagus help in your resolve? What does eating better entail?
Vegetables, asparagus to be precise!
A good number of individuals are into generic veggies such as spinach, tomatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, carrot, iceberg lettuce, all of which are excellent. They’re incredibly delicious when you cook them right. However, after a while, they can turn out to be repetitive.
When such a thing happens, folks either drop vegetables or search for different ones, which they try. Some of other veggies you can try include asparagus, edamame, eggplant, kale, cucumbers, artichokes etc.
One factor that concerns many people when it comes to trying new things has to do with taste. For that reason, I’ve decided to zoom in on one veggie, asparagus to let you know exactly how it tastes.
Before looking at that, let’s first get started with foods that can accompany asparagus and how to cook it. Read on …
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What Does Asparagus Taste Like?
Asparagus brings with it such a unique flavor that’s difficult to describe accurately.
Asparagus has an earthly taste that resembles that of broccoli but slightly more salty and bitter. Some people compare the taste of asparagus to green beans but with a noticeable and stronger flavor.
One of the most evident attributes about asparagus is the fact that it’s much like mushrooms. It boasts the ability to absorb an array of other flavors especially when it’s cooked with various foods. Such an attribute makes it an incredible side dish or accompaniment for any type of meal.
Asparagus brings with it such a strong flavor that match excellently with salty foods or those foods with plain or discrete flavors. These foods are great at absorbing the asparagus taste in order to offer you a brand new experience.
The best way to help you get an idea of exactly what to expect when you’re trying asparagus is to present to you a comprehensive list of the different foods that go hand in hand with it. Here are some of them:
- Rice
- Pasta
- Sharp cheeses
- Meat
- Hollandaise sauce
- Lamb
- Chicken
- Vegetables such as olives, chickpeas and tomatoes
- Cheese and ham
- Bacon
- And so much more
Now that you have a slight idea of the taste of asparagus, and the kind of foods you can eat with the veggie, let us now look at how best you can cook asparagus.
How To Cook Asparagus
You can cook asparagus through five main ways.
1.Blanching
Blanching entails tying your asparagus into bundles and then boiling them for a short period before you plunge them into ice-cold water.
Doing so goes miles in preserving their flavor while at the same time giving them a delicious crunchy texture. It also makes it extremely easy to store or freeze asparagus inside the fridge. Check this video to learn more.
2.Steaming
Similar to blanching, steaming goes miles in preserving the taste of your asparagus. However, with this method, the texture will be a little softer. Check out this video to learn more about how to steam your asparagus. You should place your veggies spear on a streaming basket and then cover. Allow them to cook for 3 – 4 four minutes.
3.Griddled
Heat up your pan and drizzle it with different kinds of oils such as olive oil. Place the asparagus spears either chopped or whole and then cook until they have absorbed much of the oil.
By doing that, you’ll give them an entire texture while at the same time infusing them with the oil’s flavor or any other ingredients, which you used (such as pepper and salt). Learn more about this cooking method here.
4.Roasting
Roasting asparagus is a remarkable way of raising the characteristic flavor of this veggie. You need to preheat your oven to roughly 400 degrees F. After that, line a tray with some baking paper.
Next, lay your asparagus spears, drizzle them with some olive oil, and finally season. To make it tastier, you can add lemon zest, pepper, salt, onion, and garlic or anything else.
Roast for ten minutes inside a roaster oven. It’s also possible to do it on a grill. Learn more about roasting here.
5.Stir-Frying
You can frequently find asparagus in Asian cooking. The first thing you need to do is to chop your asparagus, heat up wok and then toss it in. Stir inside a pan for roughly a minute until it is cooked.
Always remember to add it towards the tail end of your cooking process and not at the start. Check out this video to learn more about how to cook your asparagus using this method.
The above are the five common methods of cooking asparagus. If none of them seems satisfactory, or you aren’t into cooking the veggie, there’s no need to be worried.
You can take it raw since it’s not harmful in any way. If you opt to take it raw, then it’s important to know that you can take it with some black or green olives, feta cheese, or different salads.
This fact makes it an incredible finger food for fancy dinner of sorts. Are you into pickling it? If yes, then it’s possible to do such a thing.
As We Wrap Up
It’s quite clear that asparagus is a highly practical and versatile veggie. You can eat it cooked or raw. There’s no doubt that it goes well in different ways. You can enjoy asparagus as part of dinner, lunch or a healthy breakfast.
If you are yet to try this delicious and healthy veggie, then you should go ahead and purchase a bunch.
