Here May is the season for asparagus so why not talking to you about a simple but delicious versatile recipe!
In fact, this recipe can be used as a vegetable side dish or as a sauce for pasta or as a filling along with ricotta for Tortelloni or Ravioli.
Asparagus are really healthy vegetables and have detoxifying and diuretic effects. They are low in calories, loaded with vitamins and minerals, a good source of folic acid, vitamin A, B vitamins and vitamin C and are also a fair source of calcium and fiber.
So a lot of reasons to eat them!
The following ingredients are what I used for a bunch of thin asparagus but this is a recipe so simple that you can adapt it easily to your liking and to the amount of asparagus you have.
Asparagus with onion and white wine
Difficulty: easy
Preparation: 5 minutes 
Cooking Time: 8-20 minutes
Yield: ≈4 servings
Ingredients:
- 1 bunch of asparagus (about 40 thin)
- 3/4 medium onion
- 1/4 cup butter and 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2/4 cup – 120 ml white wine (no bubbles)
- ≈ 2/4 cup – 120 ml water
- Salt and/or pepper to taste
Instructions:
Clean asparagus very well under cool running water to remove dirt and sand (the following first photos refer to larger asparagus).
Remove the woody root ends of asparagus. If you don’t know how much you have to cut, a good trick is to just take the end of the asparagus between your thumb and forefinger and bend it until it breaks (you can save the woody roots to make an asparagus soup).
Sometimes asparagus can develop a tough outer skin (especially the larger ones) so I like to peel it away too with a knife or a vegetable peeler.
Here I leave the spears whole but you can cut them into smaller pieces if you like.
Halve the onion and cut it in really thin slices.
On a medium-high heat, put the butter or olive oil into a pan.
Add the sliced onion and let sauté for a minute.
Add the asparagus, salt and pepper to taste and mix a bit (here I used a small pan so it was a bit overcrowded, use a larger one if you can).
Add white wine and let it evaporate.
Then add a bit of water and let them cook on a medium heat (adjust with some more water if the asparagus stick to the bottom of the pan).
The cooking time depends on the size and the thickness of the asparagus and of course to your taste! So you can check them by piercing the spears with a fork or a toothpick. They should be tender but still a bit firm (mine were thinner so they took about 10 minutes to be fully cooked).
Keep in mind that if asparagus are undercooked they’re not easy to chew while if they’re overcooked they become flabby.
So the best test would be to take a bite into one! 😉
The next picture shows large asparagus that I like the most because they are juicer, tender and less fibrous (once you peel away the outer skin, of course).
As I told you before you can cut them into little pieces, saving some tops for the garnish, and toss as a sauce over your favourite pasta.
If you use them as a Ravioli or Tortelloni filling, you need to cut them in very little pieces (along with the onion), put them in a colander to drain any liquid in excess (or pat with a towel) then in a bowl and add to almost equal part of drained ricotta and some grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.
If the mixture is too wet, add some finely grated bread crumbs (not too much though!).
So this is my favourite (healthy) way to eat asparagus instead of just boiling them, what’s yours?
- 1 bunch of asparagus (about 40 thin)
- ¾ medium onion
- ¼ cup butter and 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2/4 cup - 120 ml white wine (no bubbles)
- ≈ 2/4 cup - 120 ml water
- Salt and/or pepper to taste
- Clean asparagus very well under cool running water to remove dirt and sand (the following first photos refer to larger asparagus).
- Remove the woody root ends of asparagus. If you don't know how much you have to cut, a good trick is to just take the end of the asparagus between your thumb and forefinger and bend it until it breaks (you can save the woody roots to make an asparagus soup).
- Peel away outer skin with a knife or a vegetable peeler if desired.
- Halve the onion and cut it in really thin slices.
- On a medium-high heat, put the butter or olive oil into a pan.
- Add the sliced onion and let sauté for a minute.
- Add the asparagus, salt and pepper to taste and mix a bit.
- Add white wine and let it evaporate.
- Then add a bit of water and let them cook on a medium heat (adjust with some more water if the asparagus stick to the bottom of the pan).
- Check them if they're done by piercing the spears with a fork or a toothpick. They should be tender but still a bit firm.
Really easy! Worked out great. Husband loved it.
Hi Carlie, thanks for the comment!