Asparagus with Sauce Tartare

By John, 19 June, 2023
Region
Italy
Description

"Steamed Asparagus with Sauce Tartare"I was surprised when I first saw this. It's so simple, with no hard-to-get ingredients, that I would expect to see it on menus and at picnics and other al fresco dining opportunities. It seemed at first counterintuitive, but Tartar Sauce used to be used for many things beside fried fish, and this is just one simple example. 

This is best in late spring and early summer when you can get fresh local asparagus. There are plenty of brands of commercial tartar sauce available on store shelves, or you can make your own. 

Yield
4 Servings
Preparation time
2 minutes
Cooking time
8 minutes
Total time
10 minutes
Ingredients
1 lb Fresh Asparagus
1⁄4 c Tartar Sauce
Instructions
  1. Put on the stove a pan long enough to hold the asparagus and deep enough to steam it.
  2. Trim the asparagus from the bottom so the spears will fit your serving dish or your diners' plates.
  3. Steam the asparagus for 5-8 minutes depending on their thickness. You want it somewhat tender but not mushy.
  4. Plunge the cooked asparagus into cold water to stop the cooking and cool it down, then roll them on paper towels to get rid of excess water.
  5. Arrange the asparagus on a serving dish and dress it with the Sauce Tartare. Serve cool.
Notes

There are many recipes for Sauce Tartare, and many commercial varieties that you can use as-is or doctor with ingredients inspired from other recipes. It should be mayonnaise-creamy with some pickle-icious piquancy from gherkins or capers or dill relish. I keep some Hellman's in the fridge and then doctor it to suit whatever I will be serving with this. 

Four servings would be as a main veggie dish, maybe at a cookout. As an appetizer you should probably figure servings half that size, so this would serve eight people as an hors d'oeuvre.

Source

Ada Boni, Italian Regional Cooking