RECIPE: ASPARAGUS - different ways to prepare it

I was lucky enough to snag 5 pounds of BIODYNAMIC asparagus from Groh Farm last weekend!  There was a mix of green and purple, large and small.  Here's what I did with it:

Five+ pounds of biodynamic asparagus!

 

After washing all of it, I separated it into small and large, then into green and purple.  The purple supposedly is sweeter and less bitter so I wanted to cook it separately. 

Rather than cut the ends off neatly, I used a trick I learned many years ago to determine where the edible part ends and the fibrous part starts - I bend the stalk until it breaks.  It will break where the edible part ends.  I saved all the fibrous ends, which have lots of flavor, to make broth.

 

The first recipe I made was Veal Meatballs in Asparagus Cream Sauce!  Using the thinnest stalks, I steamed them until soft and then pureed them, adding the puree to the sauce.  I reserved the water I steamed them with to use in broth.

Steamed skinny asparagus pureed

 

Pureed asparagus stirred into spicy cream sauce for meatballs.

 

Next, I made a broth from the ends.  I chopped them in my food processor, added sliced leeks and celery, then simmered them in water for 20 minutes.  I removed them from the heat and let the vegetables cool in the water, then strained them out.  

Chopped asparagus ends, leeks, celery broth

This left me with about 3 pounds of nice fat stalks ready to cook.  I stored them in glass jars with a little water on the bottom to keep them fresh until I could cook them.

Fat green asparagus, trimmed by bending the ends until the stalk breaks.

Trimmed asparagus, in water, stored in fridge.

The green asparagus were used to make Asparagus Saffron Risotto.  I used the broth to blanch the asparagus and then reduced it to 4 cups.  I used 2 cups to make the risotto, and chilled the rest for later..  

Asparagus and Saffron Risotto

The purple asparagus I will steam and serve with garlic butter so we can see whether they really are sweeter than the green ones!  I'll report back next week.