Kitchen Garden Forum

After 3 years i am harvesting lots of asparagus. Can i freeze it? i have been making soup with it, but now i want to do other things, its such a wonderful taste.

I wouldn't bother, unless you freeze it as a puree for soups or sauces, but then I'm not a big fan of veg out of season.

If you've got lots, why not make quiches, flans or bakes with it and freeze them. Asparagus can hold a lot of water and that makes it a bit 'pappy' when you defrost it so it's often better frozen amongst other ingredients.

If you'd like some variety, here's some that surprised us:

(1) Roast it
Just put it in a roasting dish in a hottish oven, with a splash of olive oilk to stop it drying out and a grind of salt. 15 minutes generally does the trick.

We found you get the full taste, whearas traditional methods of steaming or part-boiling can sometimes dilute the taste.

(2) Stir fry it with mild indian spices.
Cut into lengths about 2" long. Stir fry with some corasly ground coriander & cunmin seeds. Finish with a splash of lemon.

The full recipe is my daughter's but she refuses to divulge it.


Finally
Does anyone want to share their experiences of an hour after eating asparagus?! Sorry this is now probably in the wrong part of the forum.....

COLIN........!!!!!!!

With this as an example, someone else will start one on hot beetroot. Stop it.

I agree with Tigger that it can be soggy if frozen whole. I cook, puree and sieve (ie use a mouli legume) the harder, stringier ends of asparagus stems. We get the fresh tender part at its best and the tougher bits are made useable.

The puree can be used for soup, stuffing lasagne or pancakes, souffle, all sorts of things.

I love the fresh stuff roasted too, and stir fried with oyster sauce and shitake mushrooms (proper dried ones), or black bean sauce.

Tigger wrote:With this as an example, someone else will start one on hot beetroot. Stop it.

Hot beetroot????

Should I even be asking?! Go on, we won't tell anyone else.....

Suffice to say that when I first started eating hot beetroot I was that worried the following day I almost went to the doctor. I was 3 weeks before I connected the problem to the RED beetroot I'd scoffed the night before...

She's right! We often had hot beetroot as a veg when I was little, so I assumed OH must have had it also - wrong. Many years ago I gave him the said delight with cheese sauce as one of the veg with his meal. Some hours later, a fierce scream rang out from the little room, followed by; "Quick! Ring for an ambulance. I think the world has just fallen out of my *****m."

He can laugh about it now..........