The result of half an hour of harvesting.
One of the most relaxing and pleasant things to do when spring arrives arround Zaragoza is going wild asparagus (Asparagus acutifolius) picking.
If you've been mushroom picking, you might find it very similar. I always search in the bushy and shady areas of these dry landscapes of ours, where Quercus coccifera and Ephedra ssp. grow amid our typical pine trees (Pinus halepensis).
I like to search for them specially in March or early April in order to find the tenderest ones before they start to get "woody", because what you pick is what will turn into the stalk of the plant, so after a few days the asparagus becomes less tender as lignin contents in the plants composition grow higher.
What you have to look for is this:
If you've been mushroom picking, you might find it very similar. I always search in the bushy and shady areas of these dry landscapes of ours, where Quercus coccifera and Ephedra ssp. grow amid our typical pine trees (Pinus halepensis).
I like to search for them specially in March or early April in order to find the tenderest ones before they start to get "woody", because what you pick is what will turn into the stalk of the plant, so after a few days the asparagus becomes less tender as lignin contents in the plants composition grow higher.
What you have to look for is this:
The green thin stalk is the asparagus we are looking for. As it grows amid other plants, sometimes it isn't easy to see , so what you have to do is look for the rest of the plant. If you look at the picture, you can see a dry twisty branch to the left; that's what we're looking for. If you find this year's branches, it's even easier, for they are dark green, twisty and with tiny spiny leaves.
Once you've located the asparagus, bend the stalk carefully from bottom to top until it breaks, so that way you'll only take home the tenderest part and leave the rest, which will give the stalk more chances to survive.
If you want to, specially if you are going to cook them the same day you've picked them, something I strongly recommend, take a few bites to a raw and fresh one so you can find all the flavours and the mixture of sweetness-bitterness they have. Later on, when you eat them cooked, you'll get the complete asparagus experience, and you'll remember those bites you took to that wild fresh one. You'll always remember that flavour (in fact, right now, while I'm writing, I can feel it in my mouth!)
The rest of the search is just wandering around enjoying the environment for rushing is the least thing you have to do; you will miss lots of asparagus if you are in a hurry!!
By the way, dont forget to keep quiet and taking your bonoculars whith you, you'll see lots of birds, remember we are in early sping and there's great activity out there!
So, after more or less half an hour, once you're trained in searching for them, this is what you can get home with ...
700 gr of forest vitamins!!!
And at this point you probably will be asking me: "What can I do with them?"; well, as always, that depends on your cooking skills, but if you're not a Bocusse or an Adriá, you are lucky with these thin green friends: they are so tasty that you just have to put a bit of olive oil in a frying pan, fry them, and ad some salt before serving; or even easier; put some olive oil in a a plate, put the asparagus on it, add some more oil and microwave it setting the microwave to the maximum power for like 6-7 minutes, add salt and enjoy!!
Traditionally, around Zaragoza they are eaten either in an omelette or in scrambled eggs. The first option is the way I chose to cook them. Here goes the recipe:
First wash the asparagus in order to get rid of dust and little insects; then cut them into smaller pieces (as small as you wish to do). I prefer to cut them into 3-4 cm pieces because I like to feel them when I eat them.
Then, I put some olive oil in a pan and when it is at more or less 120º C (if you want them a bit crunchy, very hot oil, if you like them soft and tender, you can "boil" them in colder oil) I add the asparagus. Don´t put too much oil, more or less a spoonful, in order to avoid an oily omelette, which is something people usually don't like. You can always add more oil while you are cooking.
Cut the asparagus into pieces and fry them.
Once you have the asparagus the way you like them, add the trodden egg, stir it for like 10 seconds and let it dry a bit. Once it reaches the "turning point" omelettes have, turn it upside down, wait one minute and...ready to eat!!
If you want the omelette to look visually perfect, use more than one egg. In my case, I prefer less egg and a less "perfect" omelette. It's not because I don't like egg (specially this one, which comes from my aunt's hen house, where hens are fed only with natural food and eggs taste more or less the way Heaven must taste), it's just because I want the maximum wild asparagus flavour in my omelette!!
Forget visual perfection ... once it's in your mouth you can feel the world stopping!
While you are eating them, the flavour is so different from other commercial asparagus that you start to remember the time you spent searching for them and you find it has been worth it. They have a much more potent "aroma", with the exact amount of bitterness that the farm ones don't have.
Next spring, if you're coming to Zaragoza, don't forget to ask me to go asparagus picking ... a really nice experience and a very different way to know the wild environment that surrounds my city.
See ya!
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