Grilled Asparagus with Balsamic Vinegar by Dana Carpender

 

It’s spring! You know what that means – perfect baby stalks of asparagus are in your grocery store, excruciatingly fresh, and for once, reasonably priced!

Asparagus hollers “Springtime!” – while it murmurs “Luxury and elegance.” It’s delicious, quick and easy to prepare, and takes to all sorts of easy variations. And, I’m pleased to tell you, asparagus is also one of the very lowest carb vegetables. A half-pound of asparagus – a fabulously generous serving – contains only 5 grams of carbohydrate, of which 2 grams are fiber, for a usable carb count of just 3 grams. This is one indulgence we can all afford to make more often!

Asparagus is plenty nutritious, too.

It’s a good source of vitamin A, vitamin K, and vitamin C, and a particularly good source of folic acid. Asparagus also has plenty of potassium.

Knowing this, isn’t it time for a low carb asparagus feast? Choose asparagus that is very fresh, with no shriveled stalks, and the tips tightly closed. If you’re not planning to eat your asparagus right away, wrap it well, and serve within a day or two.

To trim asparagus, simply snap the bottom off each spear where it wants to break naturally. I don’t bother taking off the scales, but if you want to you can use a potato peeler to do this. Your asparagus is now ready to cook.

How to cook asparagus?

Quickly. Most vegetables suffer from overcooking, but asparagus, in particular, loses its charm when it becomes limp. I like to microwave my asparagus – I put it in a microwaveable container with a lid, add just a tablespoon or two of water, cover the container, and nuke on “high” for just 5 minutes. Once the microwave beeps, uncover your asparagus right away! Otherwise, it will continue to cook, and be gray and mushy.

You can cook your asparagus on the stove top, of course. The classic way to do this is to stand the asparagus on end in a deep, narrow pot, with the bases of the stalks in just a couple of inches of water. Cover the whole thing tightly, place on high heat, and once the water boils, cook it for just 5 to 7 minutes – once again, uncover it as soon as the cooking time is up.

Using this method, the tender tips of the asparagus steam, while the tougher bases of the stalks boil. You can buy tall, narrow asparagus pots, but a great substitute is available cheap at yard sales and thrift shops: Buy an old stove-top coffee perker, and remove the guts, for an admirable asparagus pot!

It may amuse you to know that the proper way to eat whole asparagus spears is with your fingers – even Miss Manners says so. You can dip your asparagus in lemon butter, hollandaise sauce, or aioli (garlic mayonnaise), all of which are very low carb. Cooked asparagus is also wonderful chilled – try dipping it in chipotle mayonnaise: Just put 1/2 cup of mayonnaise in your food processor with one chipotle pepper canned in adobo sauce, and process till smooth. This is enough for 4 people, and will add only trace amounts of carb to your asparagus.

Roasted asparagus is delicious beyond belief; even small children have been known to devour it and beg for more. Just toss your spears with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper, lay them in a roasting pan, and slide them into a super-hot oven – 500 degrees. Give them about ten minutes, or until they’ve started to develop a few brown spots. These are utterly wonderful without a single darned thing added.

Grilled Asparagus with Balsamic Vinegar Recipe

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© Copyright 2009 by Dana Carpender. Used by kind permission of the very healthy author.