Best Asparagus Recipes

In paella, the focus is rice cooked in an intense stock, with meat adding flavor, but meat has taken over and often the paella emerges with the meat cooked perfectly but the rice overcooked and mushy. Dirt Candy's paella focuses on cooking the bomba rice perfectly, and we use a toasted rice crisp to get the sweetness of socarrat into the dish.    Click here to read the full story on Dirt Candy: A Cookbook. 

The true sign of spring in the food world is the abundance of many fresh vegetables. Asparagus is one of the quintessential spring vegetables. This cherished culinary pleasure is so flavorful that you’ll find it in all kinds of dishes. When purchasing asparagus, examine the tips for signs of freshness, as that is the portion most likely to break or spoil. Look for tightly closed tips and stalks that are not too dry. The young asparagus have purple tips and green stems and grow thicker as they ripen. If served cold, you can cook in advance, but be sure to shock them in ice cold water to stop cooking and keep flavor and color. My friend Holly Clegg was kind enough to share this recipe with us. See all spring vegetable recipes.

Here is a dish that can be put together in just around 10 minutes.  It looks beautiful and can be served as a main dish at brunch or as a salad for dinner.  As always, the fresher the eggs, the better the dish, especially in such a simple preparations as this. Note: Adding a bit of wine or vinegar to the poaching water helps the egg hold its shape by causing the outer layer of the egg white to congeal faster.  We recommend wine over vinegar, simply because it tastes better! Rioja pairing: Both asparagus and eggs are notorious for being difficult to pair with wine because they both contain sulfurous elements that can make wine taste vegetal, but difficult does not mean impossible!  Try this dish with a bright, fruity Rioja rosé, you will not be disappointed.

Why wait in line for brunch when you can whip up your own "gourmet" egg dish in about 10 minutes? This simple recipe has only six ingredients and takes advantage of one of the best things spring has to offer — verdant, crisp asparagus. See all asparagus recipes. Click here for Awesome Asparagus Recipes.

Were your eyes too big for your stomach this past weekend at the farmers' market? This asparagus soup recipe is the perfect way to make use of a surplus of asparagus. Eat it fresh or keep it frozen to enjoy well past asparagus season.