Asparagus: The Perfect Summer Food Sidekick

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Whether you eat it grilled, steamed or plain, asparagus is a delicious, healthy snack. Pare it with some other great vegetables, snacks and dressings, and you have a great salad. Check out this recipe by Martha Rose Shulman from the New York Times Fitness & Nutrition Section, for a great summer meal.

Some weeks all I want to cook is Italian food, and so it was this week as I availed myself of the last of the season’s asparagus. Italians have a way with this vegetable, both the pencil-thin stalks that grow wild in the countryside and the thicker cultivated varieties.

Simply steamed or boiled, asparagus can be served with a range of condiments and sauces, from Parmesan and butter to anchovies and capers to gremolata -- a mixture of finely chopped parsley, garlic and lemon zest. Italian cooks also use asparagus in risottos and toss it with pastas; they scramble the thin variety with eggs and use it to fill frittatas. One of my favorite Italian dishes is a crêpe filled with cooked asparagus spears and a little cheese, then baked until bubbly.

Asparagus is an excellent, low-calorie source of vitamin K, folate, vitamin C, vitamin A and such nutrients as tryptophan, manganese and fiber.

Read more at The New York Times Fitness & Nutrition