Oh I am loving the warmer weather. Are you? The cherry blossom is out and asparagus is back. So for this week’s foodie Friday we are going to round up some creative and nutritious ideas for your spears.
Let’s kick off with breaky. Not typically a meal to clock up a serve of veg, but a very good way to 5 a day if you can. I love waking up to a soft poached egg on a nest of green beans like in this meal below, but I will always go for spears first if I can get them! Beautiful asparagus spears with cracked pepper and a little sea salt are the perfect soaker for gooey eggs. Look out for all 3 types of asparagus green, white and purple from September through to March. Asparagus has abundant nutrition packed into every spear, including a range of B group vitamins, vitamin C and potassium. Asparagus also provides some powerful antioxidants, such as rutin, carotenoids (e.g. beta-carotene), flavonoids, vitamin C, saponins and glutathione.
Asparagus is also perfect on the grill to add as a side or to salads. I love to do a massive platter of char-grilled spears, grilled haloumi, olives, torn basil and mint, olive oil and lemon juice when friends are just arriving for a BBQ. And I love the sound of this Roasted Cauliflower Tabouli from Australian Asparagus who kindly sent the Scoop office such beautiful bouquets on the first day of Spring.
And what about the funny wee smell? Well Glenn Cardwell APD has a fantastic explanation stating that, “To make asparagus less attractive to parasites it produces a compound called asparagusic acid. This same compound, when eaten, is metabolised to other compounds that provide the characteristic bouquet of pee after we eat asparagus….Although we all excrete the same compounds after eating asparagus, only around one in two people from a Caucasian background, and nine out of ten from a Chinese background can smell it. Whether our pee changes in odour after eating asparagus is all academic really because asparagusic acid and its metabolites are harmless.”
So there you go lovelies? Nothing to fear! Do you love asparagus like me? How do you have your spears? And I won’t ask if you’re a smeller!
