asparagus

After our long and very cold winter, I can think of many good reasons to be excited for spring, but one in particular comes to mind: fresh asparagus is almost here. When I first see those crisp green stalks for sale at the local farmers markets, I know spring is here to stay. I have remind myself to exercise some restraint and only buy one or two bunches at a time; after such a long hiatus, I tend to forget that I can always buy more the next week. And the week after that. And the week after that. 

I grew up eating asparagus simply boiled, but in recent years, I've switched things up a bit. Nowadays, I lean toward roasting, grilling, sautéing, or making a rich, flavorful soup. Fortunately, it's not difficult to source as locally as possible, too.

If you are like me, you get excited during those warming days when displays of fresh asparagus start appearing in your local markets, and if you happen to stumble upon J & S Produce you might just think you’ve found a little piece of vegetable heaven. J & S Produce is a little farm fifteen minutes west of Spooner, WI, on highway 70, where farmer Joe Strenke has six beautiful acres of organic asparagus. I stopped there a week ago with my mom on the way up to our cabin near Hayward, WI and between the two of us we bought nine pounds of asparagus at $3.00 a pound. While Joe washed and bundled up our asparagus, which he had picked that very morning, I chatted with him a bit and took a look around. 

Jenny Breen is a Minnesota "good food" legend. She's a caterer, chef, Bush fellow, student in public health and nutrition, teacher, visionary, wife, and mom. She's very good at being all of these things, and chances are excellent that she knows more about good, local, healthy food than you do.

Before I go into all of the delicious, healthful and medicinal goodness of this amazing member of the lily family, which happens to be in the height of its growing season, I’m chomping at the bit to impart upon you some (wink wink) other perks to eating asparagus. Folks, consider it the vegetable with benefits.

Oysters and…asparagus?

So what's with the winking? Well, unbeknownst to me before writing this post, I now can tell you that asparagus is considered an aphrodisiac. You read it here first.

Before I begin, I feel obligated to disclose that I’m writing this under the hypnotic effects of a deliriously delicious bratwurst dinner. Having said that, I’m here to proclaim that I am, once again, officially in love with The Black Forest Inn. I say “again” because I used to love The Black Forest Inn back in my twenties, when I had a gaggle of single friends and the thrust of a weekend day revolved around deciding where to go for a bleary-eyed brunch or an afternoon beer, or two or three. I have fond memories of wiling away the afternoon in the gorgeous beer garden at The Black Forest, drinking weiss beers and sharing crispy potato pancakes with my buddies, by turns immersed in the earnest debates, uproarious laughter or funky silences of post college life. And then I grew up. I moved away, got married, had some babies and moved back.

Award winner Tracy Singleton from the Birchwood Cafe and Danny Schwartzman from Common RootsLast night's Common Roots event combined many of my favorite things: delicious local, seasonal fare; presentations from some of the Twin Cities most forward thinking food experts; and the chance to connect with old and new friends in our community who share a commitment to good food that comes directly from the farmer.

Asparagus makes me smile. For starters, being one of the first vegetables to show up after a long, dark winter, asparagus is the courageous harbinger of spring – more so than the robin, who I’ve seen pecking around in the snow with nary a clue as to just how many weeks away spring really is. And although I’ve never eaten a robin, something tells me it isn't nearly as tasty as fresh asparagus.

I admonished myself last summer, as I canned tomatoes for days at a time, that I would certainly not need this many tomatoes! Well, I realize now that I was just tired of canning. This week, as I find myself heading down to the pantry, staring at shelves that used to be well-stocked, but are now almost empty, I'm reminded that, at these latitudes, March is the hardest month to eat local.

Yes, there are still plenty of root vegetables available. But who isn't tired of potatoes, parsnips, celeriac and beets by now? As for everything else, it's just too early. Last week, there was still snow in my yard, and nothing but mold, as far as I know, grows in the snow.

Hey, you guys… listen up. Valentine’s Day is this weekend. If you're in a significant relationship, this is the one day every year when you’re expected – no, mandated – to express your undying devotion to that person in your life whom you love more than…
(a)  beer
(b)  pizza
(c)  your dog
(d)  your mother
(e)  all of the above

This is also the day, every year, when there is extra pressure to, um, “perform” like the stud-muffin that you are. In other words, Valentine’s Day would be the wrong time to fall asleep early in front of the TV, dressed in your wife-beater undershirt and ketchup-stained boxers.

Has it already been a week? Can you tell from the bigger that the bounty is getting bigger? It's much harder to make our way through an entire box of local, sustainable, organic fresh produce - no matter how wonderful - when we spend part of the week out of town (as we did last week). Lucky for us there's always a line up of family, friends, and neighbors willing to take an extra bag of spinach, green garlic, or bok choy off our hands in a pinch. Why is it so hard to let these treasures go?