Does anyone have a schedule or system for this?

[Judi Dial]

Okay. I have something like 5 lbs of asparagus in my frig. I've spent
a fair amount of this morning trying to figure out what to do with it
so that I freeze some, have some for dinner, and waste as little as
possible.

What I came up with was:

a recipe for cream of asparagus soup (using the bottoms) that has
fresh buttermilk added at the end (to freeze). I almost always have
dried buttermilk in the pantry, so the idea is that I'll freeze the
soup without the buttermilk, reheat it with reconsistuted buttermilk.
(Use all the bottoms.)

a recipe for asparagus risotto that I intend to add ham to (I have
cheap ham steaks in the freezer) for dinner AND an extra portion to
freeze and add to chicken stock and make "instant" soup sometime later
on. (Use 2 lbs.)

parboiled asparagus to freeze (Use 2 lbs.)

and, of course, steamed asparagus for dinner this week. (We usually
eat it alone with bread/butter for a meal, or as a side dish,
depending what we've got.) (Use 1 lb.)

Doing the planning for this has taken me 2 hours. I have a lot of
cookbooks and looked through several, also online. I won't have to
look again next year, but it would help if I knew if anyone else does
this sort of thing?

I tried OAMC, and didn't like it. The recipes use too many prefab
foods for us and the food was too bland too. DH and I are both fresh
food freaks and like either very subtly flavored or spicy foods. I
think the techniques are useful, but the recipes I tried seemed like a
lot of work for food neither of us liked. Why go to all that trouble
for food you don't like?

Anyway, suggestions/comments or input is welcome! Thanks in advance.

Judi

[Domestic Gal]

The bottom part of the spear is woody and I do not think it will make very good soup.
You can steam some of them and taste them and see if they are woody.
Usually with asparagus all you have to do is bend it and it will break. This is the best part to eat. The bottom is woody.

[Darlene]

I have this recipe in my to try list, it just looks so good. http://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2008/...casserole.html

[PoorRichardsGirl]

Judi, beyond making me green with envy over your 5 lbs of asparagus you've also made me start thinking about my lack of systems, as well.

For awhile I've been wanting to put together a group of recipes, or a series of meals, that use a particular thing up. For instance, if I have one recipe that calls for less than a full package of sour cream, what are other things I can make to use it up. I don't want to spend hours figuring it out, either, or spend a lot of money on cookbook software.

So--what you've spurred me on to do is start putting my recipes into Yahoo! notepad. It's searchable in a primitive way--I can search on one ingredient word to find every recipe that includes "sour" for example. It doesn't look like I can search with two terms, like "sour" and "mushrooms". But it's something, and it's free. And being I already use Yahoo a lot, I don't have to remember another username and password. I'm sure somebody out there has a better way of doing it...

[Laurie in Bradenton]

Actually just had a cooking class that prepared the following recipe.

Grilled Asparagus, Romesco Sauce, Ham and Hard Cooked Egg

1 lb. Asparagus
1 Tbsp. olive oil
salt and pepper

Romesco Sauce
2 Ancho chilies
1 piece of sliced bread sour dough if you have it
2 garlic cloves peeled
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/4c almonds
1/2cup tomaotes diced
2 tsp. red wine vingar
1 cup olive oil
salt and pepper

Garnish:
1 egg hard boiled and diced
2 oz. cooked ham or bacon diced
1 Tbsp. chives opitional

Rinse the aspargus well and trim about 2 inches off the bottom. Coat the aspargus with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Set aside and light grill or heat depending on style.

Re-hydrate the ancho chilies with hot tap water. Once they are soft remove the stems and seeds. In a saute pan over mdium heat toast the bread and garlic in the 2 Tbsp. of oil. Be sure not to burn the garlic. Toast bread well on both sides. Remove the bread from pan and cool. Reserve any olive oil from toasting the garlic and bread and add it to the oil that willbe used to finish the sauce.Cut the bread into small pieces. In a food processor add chili, toasted bead, almonds, tomaotes and red wine vinegar. Puree in the food processor and slowly drizzle the olive oil. Remove from the food processor and season well with salt and pepper.
Grill aspargus on hot grill until tender. It's best to start on direct heat then move to indirect to finish cooking. Remove aspargus onto a plate. This dish can be served family style or on individual plates. Algin the aspargus on the plate, pour a generous spoonful of sauce over center of aspargus and garnish with shrinkle of egg, ham/bacon and chives. Serve extra sauce on side.

I too am jealous of your aspargus hord.

Laurie in Bradenton