For a long time, cooking asparagus any way other than the very simplest seemed like gilding the spear to me. Blanching it in boiling water for just a few minutes until just tender and bright green like a spring dream, then eating it as soon as possible — what could be better than this?
If you’re going to eat all the local asparagus you can while you are on this Earth — which you should — there’s plenty of time to try it different ways. The first asparagus of the spring is a total pleasure prepared plain. Then maybe grill some, sprinkling them with toasted pine nuts. Or wrap the spears in prosciutto to broil in the oven. As the season progresses, I like to dress it up a little bit with a lot of butter in a rich and lemony sauce with spring herbs.
The following recipe lets you choose your own buttery asparagus adventure. What does your taste tell you about what would go well with it, in terms of allium and fresh herbs? Or what you happen to have on hand, on the windowsill or in the garden? (BTW, my friend Jill told me that you can keep green onions growing in a glass of water, and it’s true, fun, thrifty and pretty — just Google it).
The customizable approach here came about by way of messing around with a New York Times recipe for Butter-Braised Asparagus by David Tanis — his involves chives, parsley or chervil, tarragon and optional dill. But the chives may be substituted at will with shallot, green onion, spring onion, ramps or leeks; garlic seems too forceful in this application to me, but hey, do what you feel.
I felt mint might be a friend to asparagus, and it turns out that the fresh, cooling, lightly spicy-sweetness also plays nicely with peppery springtime chives. Dill, as Tanis recommends, wouldn’t be to my taste with asparagus, but try any and all fresh soft herbs that sound good to you. These are just guidelines to get to the asparagus that’ll be your favorite.