Wild asparagus, not so wild any more
On Sunday I spent the afternoon with friends picking wild asparagus in the hills behind my home. Once you know where to look for it, you realise it’s everywhere, although it prefers to hide in plants with particularly vicious thorns. It’s more bitter than commercial asparagus but still tasty; the usual way of cooking it locally is to use eggs to balance the bitterness, and add whatever fresh herbs you have to hand. My version:
Wild Asparagus Scrambler (serves 2)
- 2 handfuls of wild asparagus
- 1 large onion
- 4-5 eggs
- Feta
- Butter
- Parsley (in this case, wild)
- Salt and pepper to taste
1. Remove the lower, woody parts from the stems of the asparagus.
2. Steam the asparagus for around 4-5 minutes.
3. While steaming, chop the onion finely and fry in the butter until transparent.
4. While steaming and frying, break and beat the eggs.
5. Drain the asparagus and chop into small pieces.
6. Add the asparagus and eggs to the pan with the onion.
7. Allow the eggs to begin cooking, then start scrambling.
8. Add herbs and seasoning as necessary.
9. Cube and add the feta before serving.
The next day I felt like something different, so this:
Wild Asparagus Stir Fry
- Udon noodles
- Wild asparagus
- Domestic garlic
- Red pepper
- Onion
- Soy sauce
- Sesame oil
This is simple and tasty, but no hope for you if you don’t know how to stir fry. The domestic garlic isn’t as pungent as the garlic you usually get from the market, so it doesn’t clash too much with the bitter taste of the asparagus, and the soy sauce balances the bitterness quite well. The red pepper is in there mainly to give it some colour, otherwise it just looks green.
Tags: wild asparagus
Haaa, but that is not wild asparagus, or Asparagus acutifolius,
you have on your table,
that is something we call kuka ( google says its latin name is Tamus communis, but im not sure),
tastes very similar to asparagus (šparog),
but is far less appreciated, some even call it the false asparagus.
And I am not gonna meddle in your cooking, but adding onion to asparagus is a crime.
I must disagree. Everybody around here calls it wild asparagus, and the magic of Google image search shows me… things that look like my things that I call wild asparagus. So I’m sticking with wild asparagus…
p.s. It might be a crime to add onion to asparagus, but it’s a tasty crime.
I take it back, I was wrong. Further research has revealed that you’re right – it is in fact Kuka. Somebody today called it “second class asparagus”, which seems a bit cruel to me. In future I will rely on Maja for my food classification…