Roasted asparagus with miso butter

It’s asparagus season and here in Germany, asparagus is then constantly eaten all over the country – especially white asparagus, which is only available every year between the end of April and St. John’s Day on June 24.

Many cook white asparagus in plenty of water, which is seasoned with salt, sugar and lemon juice – but we never do it that way because too much asparagus aroma ends up in the water for our taste. Instead, we either prepare our asparagus in foil packets in the oven…

White asparagus with Bozner Sauce

… or we stew it in butter and asparagus stock, which we obtain from the skins and trimmings:

Asparagus alla Milanese

Today we show a third method that cannot be surpassed in simplicity, but leads to a fascinating result: simple frying in a little olive oil.

As is well known, this works great with green asparagus, but with white asparagus this preparation is rarely encountered. The asparagus is peeled as always, the woody ends are cut off. Then heat a little olive oil over medium heat in a pan that is as large as possible, add the asparagus spears and leave them for a while. After 4 minutes, when they are delicately browned, turn them for the first time, seasoning with a little salt and sugar. Another 4 minutes later, turn them again so that they can take on a little colour all around.

This is very simple and only has the catch that you need a large pan for one serving, because the asparagus spears must of course be next to each other and not on top of each other. So this is not a suitable method for a large number of guests.

Miso butter now provides the special taste experience, which is nothing more than a mixture of light miso paste and soft butter, which are thoroughly mixed together. If you want, you can use vegan butter, of course.

After 10 minutes, we add the miso butter to the asparagus and turn it in it for a good 2 minutes or until it is soft, but still slightly firm to the bite. So the asparagus is done in less than 15 minutes.

We serve with young potatoes and today additionally with an œuf mollet, covered with the mixture of melted miso butter and asparagus jus from the pan.