Food roundup: asparagus season

You’ll see a common theme in many of these meals. We LOVE asparagus season. Asparagus is actually high fodmap but it doesn’t seem to bother me generally although I can’t make a dinner of all asparagus as we used to do at the first of the season. We manage, though. We manage.

Most of the time, when we have pasta, it’s vegetarian, but one must succumb to the lure of bacon occasionally. I cut up three pieces of bacon and sautéed until crisp and pulled them out. We tossed the cut up asparagus back in the pan with a dash of water and covered it so it would steam a bit. Then we drained the pasta, saving a cup of pasta water. We put the spaghetti (gluten free) and added the asparagus, the bacon, chopped parsley, pasta water and about 1/3 cup of grated parmesan (we used 6 oz of pasta because gluten free pasta doesn’t come in the same size as other dried pasta, it comes in 12 oz packages). You have to toss it a bit, or just let it sit until the pasta water gets absorbed somewhat and the sauce comes together. It was ridiculously good.

Leftovers for breakfast with an egg on top. No wonder it was good…we were verging into faux carbonara territory. I find that I like the Barilla gluten free spaghetti but as far as leftovers go it will always be broken into smaller pieces. I don’t mind.

Asparagus break: My beloved Heather came over on Sunday to help wash glass and she showed up with wine and my favorite potato chip, Utz dark russets. ❤️

Lately, when cooking salmon we start it in a cold pan with just a teensy bit of olive oil. Then we turn it to medium and cook until the skin is crispy, then we turn it over just for a moment. The skin doesn’t seem to stick this way.

Ok, I just can’t plate, but here is the salmon with some barely steamed asparagus and a sauce that was so-so. Mayo, a bunch of parsley, some mustard and some horseradish. I thought it would be good but eh.

This morning’s breakfast, scrambled eggs, leftover asparagus and some buttered crusts of my favorite gluten free bread. A few weeks ago I wasn’t feeling great and Ernie made me scrambled eggs with buttered toast and it brought me right back to my childhood. So a bit of comfort food this morning as well as asparagus to remind me that it’s spring.

I promise I will eat vegetables other than asparagus tonight.

Oh, and my comment on Facebook wondering why people find surf and turf appealing was about half and half in support. I stand firmly in the camp that would greatly enjoy a good steak dinner or a good seafood dinner. If I had to choose I’d go with seafood. I just don’t get it. ALTHOUGH, to be fair, one of the best things we ate in Maine last time we visited was a lobster BLT that we made with leftover lobster and ate while looking at the ocean. Personally, I think that’s a whole different thing though.

Onward.

Listening to: Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John