How To Cook Asparagus and Garlic Clove Sauce

by The Redhead Riter in Cooking ,Food,Recipe,Vegetable

I used to hate asparagus. I thought it not only tasted horrible, but smelled terrible too. Now I know that the reason I didn’t like asparagus was because so many people don’t cook asparagus correctly. They cook all the flavor out by boiling it submerged in water until the asparagus stalks are totally limp.

Ewwww…gag.

Asparagus is full of flavor if cooked correctly!!!

If you want to taste asparagus the way it was meant to taste, follow my delicious directions below.

How To Cook Asparagus and Garlic Clove Sauce

Wash one bundle of asparagus under cold water.
I like the thin stalks because they cook more evenly
since the top and bottom are the same width.
They are also not stringy.

Cut off the bottom third of the asparagus stalks.
I don’t have time to “snap” each stalk at it’s natural
breaking point, so I cut the same amount off of each stalk.
If any of the stalks look hollow, throw them out.
It means they are a little too old and will be stringy.

Boil about 2 inches of water in the
bottom of a basket strainer/steaming pot.

Stand the stalks in the basket strainer and
add a fat slice of lemon to the pot.

Cover with the lid and cook for 8-10 minutes.

While the asparagus is cooking,
put about 10-20 rough chopped garlic cloves
and 1/8 cup olive oil in a frying pan.

Roughly chop 1/2 a lemon, skin included.

Add the lemon to the garlic in the pan.
Sprinkle with pepper.

Add 1/8 teaspoon of salt.

Slowly simmer.

All the garlic skins that you might have missed peeling from the cloves will pop off.
Remove them from the pan.

Add 1 heaping tablespoon sour cream.

Add 1 heaping tablespoon mayonnaise.
Stir together and simmer until well incorporated.

Place garlic clove sauce on top of cooked asparagus.

Yum, yum, yum, yummy.

Actually, 4 or 5 stalks is a serving, but half the bundle seems better to me.

This is a very flavorful and healthy dish.
Obviously, asparagus is not that hard to cook.

Adding the caramelized lemon and garlic topping
makes the asparagus absolutely irresistible.

Yes….irresistible.

Asparagus and Garlic Clove Sauce

Ingredients:

1 bundle of asparagus
1 fat slice of lemon
10-20 garlic cloves
1/8 cup olive oil
1/2 lemon
pepper to taste
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 heaping tablespoon sour cream
1 heaping tablespoon mayonnaise

Directions:

In a basket steamer pan, bring 2-3 inches of water to a boil.

Rinse asparagus stalks under cold running water. Cut off the bottom 1/3 of the stalks. Add to boiling water with fat slice of lemon. Cover and cook for 8-10 minutes.

In a separate pan, add roughly chopped garlic cloves, olive oil and 1/2 a lemon with the skin on and roughly chopped. Add pepper and salt. Simmer until brown.

Add sour cream and mayonnaise, stirring constantly until thoroughly incorporated.

When asparagus is cooked, remove from pot and cover with garlic clove sauce. Serve hot.

Do you eat asparagus? If so, what is your topping of choice?

The Redhead Riter

{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Katherines Corner May 12, 2011 at 1:00 pm: Well done my sweet bloggy friend. Yum! Hugs and wishes for a day filled with Happy!
2 Anonymous May 12, 2011 at 4:43 pm: My husband likes his cooked to mush. Absolutely revolting. This looks good. I'll try it. I also will eat it flash steamed and crispy,or grilled.
Pam
3 Madison May 13, 2011 at 10:45 pm: Why did I just do this to myself? It looks soooo delicious:) Now I'm hungry for exactly that recipe!

Madison
4 katlupe May 13, 2011 at 11:07 pm: I love asparagus, but I have never seen it made this way. It looks so good! Red, you really need to write a cookbook!
5 PJ May 14, 2011 at 3:34 am: Hey Gal! What time did you say supper is? LOL! I just wanted you to know I think the light bulb finally went on in this thick skull of mine. I finally understood why when I "ping" some search engines have error or failed next to them. I Only have a pr of 2! Yay! I get it! Not yay about my pr. I know you say it's not real important, but if that's what you were conveying on your "blogging tip blog, with the PR numbers then that is the reason for all the lack of search engine pings. Thank you for that blog. I will definitely be a regular to it. I was gonna comment on it, but it wouldn't let me. Love ya Bunches!
PJ
6 arohanui May 15, 2011 at 5:10 am: Yum! This looks great! I have never boiled asparagus (yuk, do they go soggy?) and usually steam them then drizzle with lemon juice and cracked pepper. I also like to chop them into stir fries. Hmmm….asparagus season here soon
7 Sankalp May 15, 2011 at 7:57 am: Ummmmm … delicious … !!!!
8 Terri May 15, 2011 at 2:26 pm: I don't even like asparagus but you've made it look so good I may have to change my way of eating.
9 Jessica May 15, 2011 at 5:57 pm: Omg this looks and sounds amazing! I can not wait to try and make this. Thanks so much for this wonderful recipe!
10 A Country-ish Mom To 5 May 16, 2011 at 12:53 am: I LOVE asparagus and have to give a shout out to my Tupperware Microwave Asparagus Steamer. This is odd since I'm not a huge Tupperware fan – nor do I like to cook in the microwave. But, for whatever reason, this works well for me! Tastes incredible – easy to use – less dishes. Yup – I'm gonna guess it's the "less dishes" part that attracted me.

Thanks for the recipe – I'm TOTALLY making that sauce next time!
11 TheFashionistachic August 21, 2011 at 8:25 pm: this sounds so amazing. think i will try his one out. thanks for the recipe