Asparagus Coins

Happy Father’s Day to all the great dads out there.

I love this time of the year when we start getting all kinds of asparagus in the grocery. For this dish you will want the biggest asparagus you can find.

I love all kinds of asparagus, the purple, the fat, the very thin green but I have not tried the white asparagus. Don’t gasp but I do still love canned asparagus. Something about that brings back memories of when I was first married and made this asparagus casserole that was my sister’s mother-in-law’s recipe. It’s delicious and one day I may try to make it with fresh asparagus.

When I first saw this Asparagus Coins recipe in Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc cookbook I loved the idea of asparagus being cut into small coin pieces and I thought it would look such an interesting look around a piece of fish.

I’ll have to tell you that a recipe that looks so simple turned out to be a lot of trouble. TK’s recipe had you sauting parsley and then making a parsley water in your blender (another piece of equipment dirtied) that you were suppose to cook your asparagus in; then you made a chive oil that had to be refrigerated. It was so much work I almost decided it wasn’t worth it. All I was going for was the look of asparagus cut in tiny cute little pieces.

So, the way I’m telling you to make this is much easier. Forget making a parsley water to cook the asparagus in. I’m doing a very quick saute on the asparagus and then adding the parsley to the pan. As for the chive oil, just cut up the chives into the oil and let set for about 10-15 minutes before using.

Like I said, all I wanted were those cute little asparagus coins.

Slice the asparagus stems into about 1/2″ pieces, set the tips aside.

Saute the tips first for just 2-3 minutes. Remove from pan. (You can see my chive oil or parsley water or whatever it was I cooked this because I’m making this recipe much easier.

Heat about 1 tablespoon of the grape-seed oil in a skillet and sauté the asparagus pieces for 3-4 minutes or until barely tender.