Green asparagus – my favorite vegetables 🙂
Green asparagus season is actually the best time for me! Winter is finally over, it’s springtime, everywhere the first flowers are blooming and spring feelings are spreading in us and our environment. For me, spring has so much to do with a “new beginning”, the spring-cleaning makes room for something new and this year is very special for me.
I am back in Munich and at the beginning of May, I’ve submitted my master thesis (my brothers would rather say: master of disaster-thesis)! Finally, I have time for the beautiful and delicious things in life! 😉 Perfect timing for my favorite vegetables called: green asparagus!
Green asparagus – a real vitamin bomb
In Germany, green Asparagus is not as popular as its white colleagues, but has its fullest raison d’être! The difference between white and green asparagus is that white asparagus is kept away from any sun exposure until the end of harvest. Green asparagus, on the other hand, is the sun worshiper of the two. So, it is allowed to sunbathe. This enables its characteristic and slightly more intense taste to flourish which is linked to its high content of chlorophyll.
Chlorophyll is the green plant dye responsible for photosynthesis, which turns the asparagus green. Compared to its white fellow species member, green asparagus has significantly more minerals, antioxidants, B vitamins (folic acid!), vitamin C, and beta carotene, also called pro-vitamin A. You see, asparagus deserves the name “local superfood”! Here are 8 facts you should know! 🙂
People who tend to kidney disease or gout should be careful with the consumption of asparagus since asparagus has a relatively high content of purines.
What should you look for when buying and preparing?
Green asparagus should have a really nice, strong color and be neither too dry (woody) nor moldy at the ends. At home, it should be stored in a damp kitchen towel in the refrigerator for no longer than 4 days. It does not survive that long with me anyway… O 🙂
When preparing, you should especially make sure to rinse the asparagus thoroughly with water and then either drain or lightly shake dry. Then you cut off about 1 cm of the dry end and peel the last third with a peeler. I personally don’t peel the green one, because its shell is much softer than the white one and can be eaten without problems! Say “hello” to fiber!
Equipment
- pan or oven
Ingredients
- 500 g green asparagus
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 pinch salt
- pepper
- 1/2 lemon squeezed
- some mustard or sesame seeds as you like
Instructions
- Preheat the pan with coconut oil at high speed – make it hot!
- Wash the green asparagus thoroughly, dry and cut off ends. Roast it in the pan for about 10 minutes with repeated turning until it gets slightly brown spots.
- Add salt and pepper and sprinkle with either sesame seeds or mustard seeds as desired.
- Add lemon juice and fry for another minute. Finished! (Caution: Do not use lemon juice with Teflon pans as it can attack the Teflon coating and it is suspected of being carcinogenic!)
VARIATION Baked Green Asparagus
- For this you have to preheat your oven to 200 degrees with convection/circulating air and grilling. It’s best to put the baking pan into the pre-heating oven right away.
- Put the cleaned asparagus in the pan, add the olive oil and lemon juice and season with salt, pepper and the mustard seeds. Put it in the oven and after about 6 minutes shake once!
- After a total of about 12 minutes, the asparagus should be perfectly cooked and your delicacy is ready to eat!
Nutrients
Pan or oven – it’s your choice!
Alternatively, you can also prepare the asparagus in the oven, here are the delicious roasted aromas are slightly better.
Either you eat the asparagus pure with a glass of white wine or you can cut it into a salad. There are no limits to your imagination! I eat it in all possible variations. Pure, in the salad, as a side dish – I love asparagus simply in all variations and see myself now heartbroken when the asparagus season is over soon .. 🙁
What is your favorite recipe for asparagus? Do you know my other healthy recipes?
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