Asparagus with Chive Flowers

1 bunch aspara­gus, tough stem ends removed
1 bunch chives, with flow­ers
1 table­spoon olive oil
Salt, to taste
Chive flow­ers, to garnish

Instruc­tions:

To pre­pare aspara­gus, larger (thicker) stalks into coins. Smaller (thin­ner) stalks can be left as to be served as a side dish rather than mixed into rice. In a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, add olive oil. Add aspara­gus and quickly turn and toss until coated in oil. Add 1/2 cup water, or enough to cover the bot­tom of the pan. Briefly steam aspara­gus. Cook for no more than 2–3 min­utes. Remove from pan with a slot­ted spoon when bright green and tender.

To serve, add coined aspara­gus to rice once pre­pared. Aspara­gus stems can be served sep­a­rately as a side, with salt to taste. Gar­nish both with chive flowers.

For Broc­coli Raab

1/4 pound broc­coli raab
3 heads spring gar­lic
1–2 table­spoons extra vir­gin olive oil, to taste
Salt, to taste

Instruc­tions:

Pre­pare gar­lic by minc­ing head and ten­der part of stem. Pre­pare broc­coli raab by slic­ing to 3–4″ long pieces (or size desired). In a large sauté pan over medium high heat, warm olive oil. Add gar­lic and cook until just before ten­der; add broc­coli raab and toss to coat with gar­lic and oil. Cook for 3 min­utes, allow­ing to caramelize, then cover and slightly lower heat. If nec­es­sary to pre­vent burn­ing, con­tinue to toss or add a small amount of water and re-cover veg­eta­bles. Check for ten­der­ness after 5–7 min­utes. Drain water, then salt to taste.

For Rice

2 cups bas­mati rice
3 table­spoons coconut but­ter
Salt, to taste

Instruc­tions:

In a pot with a lid, bring water to a boil. Add rice, bring to a boil, then sim­mer. Cook until ten­der, about twenty min­utes. Once rice in moist and ten­der, add coconut but­ter, stir­ring in while in pot.

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This light, healthy meal of broc­coli raab and aspara­gus com­bines the best bit­ter and sweet fla­vors of a spring­time gar­den. One of the worst crimes against aspara­gus is to over­cook it, so be gen­tle on the pro­duce. Instead, aspara­gus are best pre­pared in enough olive oil to ease out a caramelized note, then steamed quickly to brighten their greens and tenderize.

What appears to be scales on the aspara­gus tip are its flower buds. Aspara­gus is a peren­nial crop, return­ing each year as young shoots. The crop has a short har­vest sea­son: the plant’s pri­or­ity is to make seeds and prop­a­gate. When the scales open up to flower, the plant’s slen­der eat­ing form is irrev­o­ca­bly lost. When choos­ing aspara­gus, look for firm stems and buds tight and flush against the stem. To com­plete this dish, gar­nish with chives flow­ers rather than the chopped leaves. Chives, a cousin to onions, can be a lit­tle strong as a leafy herb, so a few scat­tered flow­ers add the fla­vor and bonus of sub­tle nec­tar sweetness.

Thank­fully, spring­time greens are usu­ally milder fla­vored than their sum­mer and fall coun­ter­parts. Tra­di­tion­ally, recipes cel­e­brate bit­ter broc­coli raab with gar­lic, or an acidic tomato-based sauce. This is a fine recipe idea for Sep­tem­ber, when toma­toes are har­vested and the fall sea­son broc­coli raab crop is up. When avail­able early in the year, cook with spring gar­lic. Juicy and in bulb form (rather than fully sep­a­rated cloves), it cooks faster, allow­ing the broc­coli raab to absorb its fla­vors with­out over­cook­ing. Aro­matic bas­mati rice and coconut add the sweet­ness needed to high­light, but not let the bit­ter­ness over­whelm, the dish.

Photo: Naima Green

About Annie Novak:

Annie is founder and direc­tor of Grow­ing Chefs, field-to-fork food edu­ca­tion pro­gram; the Assis­tant Man­ager of the Ruth Rea How­ell Fam­ily Gar­den at the New York Botan­i­cal Gar­dens, and co-founder and farmer of Eagle Street Rooftop Farm in Green­point, Brook­lyn in part­ner­ship with Goode Green and Broad­way Stages.