Asparagus with Lemon Glaze
Servings 4, Preparation Time 20 minutes
Asparagus is steamed, boiled, braised, baked, and grilled to name some of the most popular cooking methods. Regardless of the cooking method, the results carry the same risks of serving a dull, mushy and stringing vegetable. These undesirable results stem from two root causes.
The first and most obvious cause is overcooking the vegetable. Overcooking causes limp, mushy, dull looking asparagus. Stop the cooking process of asparagus at the bright green stage. When using the wet cooking methods of steaming, braising, or boiling the cooking time must be a matter of minutes! This was used to make a side dish to accompany an Easter dinner and was made hours in advance of serving. To ensure the asparagus retain their bright colour and firmness, the asparagus spears were plunged into the cold water after a brief cooking period. To keep the vegetables lasting colour, freshly squeezed lemon juice was applied over the asparagus. This becomes the base of the dish. When we are ready to serve a warm to hot temperature sauce is applied.
Overcooking or undercooking does not cause the stringiness that often accompanies this vegetable. The stinginess of asparagus is grown into the stock, it is the fibrous plant flesh that keeps the spears upright and usually encountered at the base of the asparagus spear. Some people will break off and discard this part of the asparagus spear but is not necessary. Using a vegetable peeler carefully peel the bottom half of the spear. Cut off and discard only the last centimetre of the stock if they have sat in water for a day or more.
- 24 asparagus spears
- 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon of cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon of cold water
- 1 ounce of sweet Marsala or sherry
- ½ teaspoon granulated garlic
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
- Optionally, some mustard
- Using a citrus zester, remove and keep the lemon zest for later use.
- Wash and pat dry the asparagus. Using a vegetable peeler to peel the lower half of each asparagus spear. In order not to break the spears in half, gently peel all sides of the spear. If needed trim the ends of each spear.
- In a pot of boiling water, add all the prepared asparagus spears and cook until the starts to boil again, but not longer than 3 minutes. It is a good practice to use a timer. if you are not going to serve immediately you may wish to quickly cool them in a bath of cold water.
- In a saucepan, add the juice of the lemon, half the lemon zest, granulated garlic, and Marsala or sherry. Bring the mixture to a gentle boil.
- Make a slurry. Add an equal amount of cold liquid to the cornstarch and stir until smooth paste forms. This is your slurry.
- Complete the lemon sauce. Whisk half of the slurry into the hot simmering liquid into the sauce to thicken it. Add more of the slurry if need to reach the desired thickness. Bring the sauce to a low simmering boil and simmer until any starchy taste has been cooked away. Do not cook beyond this point because the starch may break down and the liquid will thin out again.
- Pour and mix the lemon sauce over the asparagus spears and ensure each spear is coated in the sauce. Optionally add some mustard for an extra zing.
- Arrange the asparagus in a serving dish and garnish with the remaining lemon zest.
Note when using cornstarch as a thickener, if your sauce is acidic like the lemon-based sauce of this recipe, the acid will cause cornstarch to lose some of its effectiveness as a thickener and you may end up using more of the cornstarch slurry then you anticipated.
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