Joanna: I think I know what you mean about the off-taste… I’m used to steaming asparagus, which seems to produce a different taste, to me. I’ll have to try this again and saute them next time. Thanks!

Unlike fruits, vegetables (or the non seed producing portion of a plant) were not meant to be eaten. Fruits are created for seed distribution and procreation. The vegetable is the body of the plant itself, and like most living organisms, tries not to be killed and eaten. Over the milennia, most plants develop toxins (even if minute) to deter animals from eating them. Blanching a vegetable and then shocking it will cook the vegetable enough to kill the nasty toxins while leaving the vitamins and nutrients intact.

Of course, this implies that you blanch correctly. Blanching greens is a simple and painless exercise. Take a large pot of vigorously boiling water. Place the vegetables in the water, but do not put too much in so that the water stops boiling, if the water stops boiling, the temperature has dropped too much and the blanch will not be perfect. For something like spinach, a few seconds is perfect. For medium thickness asparagus, 30-45 seconds. For broccoli, maybe 1:30.

Transferring to an ice bath is just as essential. Not only does it preserve the color and make your vegetables beautiful, but it STOPS the cooking process. If the cooking continued, the that’s when all of the nutrients would break down and you would lose more of the vitamins and nutrients.

Anyway, when faced with a recipe that calls for blanching asparagus, I always just saute it in a little olive oil instead. Adds extra fat, I guess, but in a dish like this one you could just add less oil at the end to compensate.

The fresh asparagus is flowing freely in these parts, and I have two market-fresh bunches in my fridge. Perhaps penne is in order. Thanks for the recipe!

Do you prefer to eat this dish hot or cold?