Marinated Asparagus

Marinated Asparagus

When we lived in northwest Iowa and later in Minnesota, spring was a time to celebrate the arrival of wild asparagus.  The people guard their patches as if they were mother-loads of gold.  I even heard of a farmer using his tree spade to transplant a patch to a "safer" location closer to the house.  I think this is my favorite vegetable. It figures it would be so seasonal and some what expensive.  I have gleaned a few recipes to share with you so you can take advantage of the short burst of abundance each spring. This is the easiest of all my recipes for "grass" as they call it in eastern Washington.

Ingredients:
 1 to 3 bunches of Asparagus spears
1 pack. Italian salad dressing mix (or your favorite in a bottle)
1/4 white wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup of water
Ice

Instructions:

If you have a steamer, fill with water to the indicator line.  If not, fill a large pan with an inch of water and please a steamer basket in it.  If you don't have a steamer basket, suspend a metal sieve or colander over the water.  Turn on the heat.


Rinse the asparagus  and break off the bottoms off the stems.





Arrange the stems in the steamer.   Cover.  Steam for about 10 minutes.


Meanwhile, take a large bowl and add 2 to 3 trays of ice and fill about 1/3 with cold water.







While the vegies are steaming:
Mix the dressing ingredients as directed but double the amount of water.



When the steaming is done, cool the asparagus in the ice water.









When the spears are cold, place them into a gallon Ziploc bag and pour in the Italian dressing.





Set in the refrigerator for several hours or even overnight.  They will stay good for several days and the flavor will improve.



The person I heard this from first said their family kept a tall jar in the fridge that they continually replenished with the stalks that came up in their garden.



This works for green onion stalks, celery, carrots, cucumber and many other veggies.  This is a good item to prep on the weekend and enjoy through out the week for lunch, dinner, or snacks.

Don't forget to garnish with chopped scallions!