Thank Goodness You Don't Have to Be Martha to Enjoy Asparagus

I got my May issue of Martha Stewart Living, which makes for good escapist fantasy every month, and discovered that Martha had written a column on how wonderful fresh, home-grown asparagus can be.

“What I discovered, growing on my own,” she writes, “was that fresh-picked asparagus are so much better than anything I had ever had before.”

In the photo in the magazine, she stands smiling in mud-free rain boots, with an umbrella in one hand and an expensive-looking basket filled with asparagus in the other. There's no word on how she picks asparagus while holding the basket and the umbrella.

I second Martha's opinion on asparagus, without reservations. Unfortunately my kids and husband don’t agree. They claim not to like it, or refuse to try it. I don’t fight them too much on this one, because I don’t mind having the asparagus all to myself.

Martha’s description of how she orders and grows asparagus, however, is probably enough to frighten away anyone who doesn’t have a staff to do the heavy labor or isn’t a glutton for punishment. She says she ordered plants from Mister Spear in California, which does not advertise plants for sale on its Web site and where cut asparagus starts at $29.95 for a 3-pound box. At least the other vendor she lists, Nourse Farms, does sell plants, starting at a cost of about $20 for 25 plants, which is too many for my small one-person asparagus bed.

Other places I’ve seen asparagus plants for sale include the local hardware store, Menards, Home Depot, Stark Brothers, Park Seed, and many of the other mail-order seed companies. Look for all-male varieties, because these are more productive.

Like most “how-to’s” in Martha Stewart Living, the planting instructions can be greatly simplified. I recommend the advice of the Ohio State University Cooperative Extension Service or the University of Minnesota Extension Service. Both offer guidance that is more detailed and actually doable for people without a staff of gardeners. Instead of urging readers to dig trenches 18 inches deep and 12 inches wide, and then mound soil 5 inches, as Martha does, the academics suggest digging the furrow no deeper than 5 to 8 inches, which is obviously far easier. Both recommend chemical fertilizers or well-rotted organic matter. I add a bag of mushroom compost, from my local nursery, to the asparagus bed every year.

Unfortunately, both Martha and the Big 10 horticulturalists are correct in that asparagus is a long-term investment; you won’t get a big crop until the third year.

Martha urges her readers to blanch asparagus in a sauté pan, which is interesting advice I might try, or to steam it in an asparagus pot, which is bulky and costs $45.00 on Amazon. I often cook my asparagus in the microwave by laying it in a large flat casserole, adding a little water, and covering with plastic wrap. Oven roasting is a technique best left for inferior supermarket asparagus.

Just for fun, I calculated the cost of Martha’s asparagus, artichoke, and fava bean salad based on online sources and using her recommendations when possible. I “purchased” the smallest container required to make the recipe. Since Martha and I agree that good, fresh asparagus does not come from the grocery store, I splurged on that.

4 lemons ( $3.56, Peapod)
3 artichokes ($4.50, Peapod)
whole milk ($1.99, Peapod)
2 c. white wine ($11.99 for Nobilo Sauvignon Blanc, Peapod)
green asparagus ($29.95, Mr. Spear)
white asparagus ($39.95, Earthy Delights)
fava beans ($7.95, Cybercucina, I could only find dried online)
ricotta salata ($3.99, igourmet.com )
extra virgin olive oil ($4.99, Peapod)
buttermilk ($1.09, Peapod)
scallions ($0.89, Peapod)
salt and pepper (You have this at home, right?)

Total cost: $110.85 for 8 servings

If you don’t subscribe, you can pick up your own copy of Martha Stewart Living at the grocery store to try this recipe at home. If white asparagus from Earthy Delights is too much for your budget, you can try blanching your own at home. Martha provides instructions.