OK, it’s the tail end of asparagus season, but…for us anyway, we can still get local asparagus at the produce stand and I hope to buy, cook and eat more of it before the season is through. I am challenged right now by lack of husband (deployed) and lack of interest (in a picky, asparagus-hating daughter) making me the only one at the farmhouse willing to eat asparagus. But if the season will go just a little bit longer, I will be making this for sure at least one last time.
This recipe technically doesn’t fall into the old fashioned recipes category other than the fact that I’ve been making it for over 20 years. But I include it here because in a way it does belong. Why? Because it’s based on simple, wholesome and local food ingredients. With all of my cookbooks I turn to for old fashioned recipes, I find a common thread of simplicity. Cooking of the past was based on fresh, local, in season ingredients. They didn’t need fancy recipes and exotic ingredients because they had good food. Nor did they have pizza to order in or fast food on the corner, making dinner at home a necessity every night…which made simple cooking the norm because it goes faster.
So no, this isn’t one of the old fashioned recipes from my old fashioned cookbooks, but I think any cooks of old would approve…and for all I know, a farming wife did make this in the past. 🙂
For you, it’s simple and delicious and highly recommended. We never have leftovers when I make this asparagus recipe, and you only need a handful of ingredients and some really good bread. Give it a try before the asparagus is all gone for the year!
Recipe for Asparagus With Eggs
Note: There aren’t really any quantities for this because you either make more or less depending on how many people you’re feeding. These quantities worked for dinner for 3, but you can scale up or down, use more asparagus or less, etc.
- 2 lb asparagus
- 4 T butter
- 6 eggs
- 1/2 c grated parmesan (or more!)
Preheat the oven to 500.
Next find a pot big enough for the asparagus and get enough water boiling to submerge the asparagus. Cut the tough ends off the asparagus and cook in boiling water for about 4 minutes. You do NOT want them mushy so pull them out early if you need to. You want them tender and soft, yes, mushy, no. Once it’s just tender, drain it into a colander.
In a large skillet, melt 3 T of butter over medium heat. Once melted, add the asparagus and stir it all around to coat it and cook it a little more. Now push all the asparagus to the outside of the skillet, to make a border around the outside of the skillet, if you will. Add the 1 T butter to the middle of the skillet. Crack the eggs into a liquid measuring cup, the kind with a spout, or something else that pours, then pour all the eggs in at once as soon as the butter is melted. Cook over medium heat until the eggs are cooked about two-thirds through. They cook from the bottom up so the bottoms will become opaque while the tops are still transparent. Sprinkle the parmesan cheese on the eggs and asparagus. Then put the skillet in the hot oven for just a minute or two. You want the whites cooked through but the yokes still kind of runny. Keep an eye on it!
Serve immediately, preferably with really good toast made from really good bread for soaking up the egg yoke and the buttery goodness infused with the taste of fresh local asparagus.
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