Asparagus!

limey said:

#1.29 a pound yesterday at the Safeway. It will be on the menu tonight
along with liver and onions and mashed potatoes. Fruit for dessert.[snip]

Wow, I haven't had that for so long, and it's so good. Definitely will
be on my mind when I go to the store. Maybe I'll get lucky and see
some good looking liver. I found that a few shakes of balsamic vinegar
added toward the end of caramelizing the onions adds a nice dimension
to the flavor, do you do that? -aem

On Thu 16 Mar 2006 12:30:06p, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it limey?

Quoted message said:

#1.29 a pound yesterday at the Safeway. It will be on the menu tonight
along with liver and onions and mashed potatoes. Fruit for dessert.

Sounds delicious! Haven't had that meal for quite a while. :-(

Quoted message said:

Made Wayne's cream of asparagus soup, to have for lunch tomorrow. Tastes
delicious. Thanks, Wayne!

You're welcome, Dora. Glad you like it!

--
Wayne Boatwright o¿o
____________________

BIOYA

"aem" wrote

Quoted message said:

limey said:

#1.29 a pound yesterday at the Safeway. It will be on the menu tonight
along with liver and onions and mashed potatoes. Fruit for
dessert.[snip]

Wow, I haven't had that for so long, and it's so good. Definitely will
be on my mind when I go to the store. Maybe I'll get lucky and see
some good looking liver. I found that a few shakes of balsamic vinegar
added toward the end of caramelizing the onions adds a nice dimension
to the flavor, do you do that? -aem

No, I don't, aem. That's a good tip and I'll give it a try - I'd never
thought of it. We get two kinds of liver at the supermarket - one is beef
liver, sliced and packaged by Safeway, but often unavailable. The other is
frozen calf's liver, which I don't buy because it's ragged, sliced as thin
as paper and hard to handle because of it.

Dora

Wayne Boatwright wrote on 16 Mar 2006 in rec.food.cooking

Quoted message said:

On Thu 16 Mar 2006 12:30:06p, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it limey?

Quoted message said:

#1.29 a pound yesterday at the Safeway. It will be on the menu
tonight along with liver and onions and mashed potatoes. Fruit for
dessert.

Sounds delicious! Haven't had that meal for quite a while. :-(

Quoted message said:

Made Wayne's cream of asparagus soup, to have for lunch tomorrow.
Tastes delicious. Thanks, Wayne!

You're welcome, Dora. Glad you like it!

Could you re-post the soup? Please

--
-Alan

On Thu 16 Mar 2006 01:59:21p, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it Mr Libido
Incognito?

Quoted message said:

Wayne Boatwright wrote on 16 Mar 2006 in rec.food.cooking

Quoted message said:

On Thu 16 Mar 2006 12:30:06p, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it limey?

Quoted message said:

#1.29 a pound yesterday at the Safeway. It will be on the menu
tonight along with liver and onions and mashed potatoes. Fruit for
dessert.

Sounds delicious! Haven't had that meal for quite a while. :-(

Quoted message said:

Made Wayne's cream of asparagus soup, to have for lunch tomorrow.
Tastes delicious. Thanks, Wayne!

You're welcome, Dora. Glad you like it!

Could you re-post the soup? Please

Alan, I've looked and I can't find it. Dunno why it's not in my
MasterCook, but it isn't. I hesitate to offer it from memory. Since Dora
has it, perhaps she could repost it. It is very tasty.

Dora?

--
Wayne Boatwright o¿o
____________________

BIOYA

On Thu 16 Mar 2006 01:59:21p, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it Mr Libido
Incognito?

Quoted message said:

Wayne Boatwright wrote on 16 Mar 2006 in rec.food.cooking

Quoted message said:

On Thu 16 Mar 2006 12:30:06p, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it limey?

Quoted message said:

#1.29 a pound yesterday at the Safeway. It will be on the menu
tonight along with liver and onions and mashed potatoes. Fruit for
dessert.

Sounds delicious! Haven't had that meal for quite a while. :-(

Quoted message said:

Made Wayne's cream of asparagus soup, to have for lunch tomorrow.
Tastes delicious. Thanks, Wayne!

You're welcome, Dora. Glad you like it!

Could you re-post the soup? Please

Well, Alan, I finally found it...

Cream of Asparagus Soup

1 pound [454 g] fresh asparagus spears
1 medium onion, diced
1 tablespoon [15 mL] butter
3 cups [750 mL] chicken broth
1 medium potato, peeled and diced
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 sprig fresh thyme or
1 teaspoon [5 mL] dried thyme
Salt and freshly ground white pepper, to taste
1 cup [250 mL] cream, half and half or milk

Soak and rinse asparagus spears.

Remove and reserve top 1 inch [2.5 cm] of each spear; discard tough lower
part, reserving middle section of stalks.

In a 3-quart [3-L] casserole, over medium heat, saute diced onion in melted
butter for 3 to 5 minutes, until translucent.

Pour in chicken broth; add asparagus tips and stems, potato dices, chopped
celery, thyme, salt and pepper.

Cover; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 12 to 15
minutes, until vegetables are soft.

Remove from heat; leave to cool.

Remove and set aside asparagus tips.

Pour half mixture into a blender container. Cover and puree at high speed
for 20 to 30 seconds, until really smooth.

Press through a fine sieve, into casserole.

Repeat with remaining half of mixture.

Delicately stir in reserved asparagus tips and cream [half and half or
milk].

Reheat thoroughly, or refrigerate and serve cold.

--
Wayne Boatwright o¿o
____________________

BIOYA

"Wayne Boatwright" wrote

Mr Libido Incognito said:

Quoted message said:

Could you re-post the soup? Please

Well, Alan, I finally found it...

Cream of Asparagus Soup
<snipped>
--
Wayne Boatwright o¿o

That's the recipe I used. I would have posted it originally but didn't like
to pre-empt the original poster's recipe (unless he wasn't able to locate
it). Enjoy!

Dora

limey said:

#1.29 a pound yesterday at the Safeway. It will be on the menu tonight
along with liver and onions and mashed potatoes. Fruit for dessert.

Made Wayne's cream of asparagus soup, to have for lunch tomorrow. Tastes
delicious. Thanks, Wayne!

You must live in a slightly lower cost area... asparagus was on sale here at
Safeway last week for $1.39 a pound (Mid Atlantic). Back up to the normal
outrageous price this week.

I made a few things out of it, including shirred eggs with asparagus and
browned butter. But the big thing last night was cream of asparagus soup, by
a "make it up as I go" recipe. Similar to Wayne's recipe though.

I did do a couple of things differently, which might be of interest to some.
I have a hard time tossing the tough lower ends of the stalks, no matter
what I'm using the asparagus for. A couple of years ago I decided to
accumulate them for asparagus soup. So every time I make something with
asparagus, the tough lower ends get tossed into a bag in the freezer. When I
have enough saved up, I also buy a new fresh batch and make soup.

The tough lower parts go into the pot first with the chicken stock, coarsely
chopped. After simmering about 15 minutes, I go through them with the stick
blender. After simmering 30 minutes total, this portion goes through the
food mill, removing all the fibrous material.

The middle third (also coarsely chopped) get steamed in the microwave. These
get added to the above liquid. I go through it again with the stick blender.
This is similar to Wayne's use of the blender on the middle third. The
asparagus tops then go in whole.

The other different thing I did this time was fry up a couple of ounces of
chopped salt pork. The cracklings from that also went into the soup when the
middle thirds of the asparagus did, so they also got pureed into oblivion
with the stick blender. Using the salt pork, obviously I didn't add any salt
to the soup (and I used low salt chicken stock). The fat from the salt pork
went in also, but that wasn't much as I used quite lean salt pork.

I know it's a bit more work to use the lower ends of the asparagus, but I am
extracting quite a bit of flavor from them. I made my soup using 6 cups of
chicken stock, and perhaps 3 pounds of asparagus total. I guess
proportionally my soup had significantly more asparagus in it than Wayne's
recipe.

--
( #wff_ng_7# at #verizon# period #net# )

On Thu 16 Mar 2006 03:43:32p, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it wff_ng_7?

Quoted message said:

limey said:

#1.29 a pound yesterday at the Safeway. It will be on the menu tonight
along with liver and onions and mashed potatoes. Fruit for dessert.

Made Wayne's cream of asparagus soup, to have for lunch tomorrow.
Tastes delicious. Thanks, Wayne!

You must live in a slightly lower cost area... asparagus was on sale
here at Safeway last week for $1.39 a pound (Mid Atlantic). Back up to
the normal outrageous price this week.

I made a few things out of it, including shirred eggs with asparagus and
browned butter. But the big thing last night was cream of asparagus
soup, by a "make it up as I go" recipe. Similar to Wayne's recipe
though.

I did do a couple of things differently, which might be of interest to
some. I have a hard time tossing the tough lower ends of the stalks, no
matter what I'm using the asparagus for. A couple of years ago I decided
to accumulate them for asparagus soup. So every time I make something
with asparagus, the tough lower ends get tossed into a bag in the
freezer. When I have enough saved up, I also buy a new fresh batch and
make soup.

The tough lower parts go into the pot first with the chicken stock,
coarsely chopped. After simmering about 15 minutes, I go through them
with the stick blender. After simmering 30 minutes total, this portion
goes through the food mill, removing all the fibrous material.

The middle third (also coarsely chopped) get steamed in the microwave.
These get added to the above liquid. I go through it again with the
stick blender. This is similar to Wayne's use of the blender on the
middle third. The asparagus tops then go in whole.

The other different thing I did this time was fry up a couple of ounces
of chopped salt pork. The cracklings from that also went into the soup
when the middle thirds of the asparagus did, so they also got pureed
into oblivion with the stick blender. Using the salt pork, obviously I
didn't add any salt to the soup (and I used low salt chicken stock). The
fat from the salt pork went in also, but that wasn't much as I used
quite lean salt pork.

I know it's a bit more work to use the lower ends of the asparagus, but
I am extracting quite a bit of flavor from them. I made my soup using 6
cups of chicken stock, and perhaps 3 pounds of asparagus total. I guess
proportionally my soup had significantly more asparagus in it than
Wayne's recipe.

Depending on the store, I have been buying asparagus at 97¢ or 99¢ per
pound for several weeks now and I don't consider where I live to be an
especially low cost area. Although it used to be somewhat cheaper to live
here than it is now. However, the asparagus is grown in Mexico and I live
in Arizona, which I'm sure accounts for the low cost. Some of the nicest,
bright green, thin asparagus I've seen in a long time.

I like your inventive use of the tough, fibrous ends, as well as the use of
salt pork. I'm going to try both the next time I make the soup.

Thanks for the ideas!

--
Wayne Boatwright o¿o
____________________

BIOYA

Wayne Boatwright' wayneboatwright_at_gmail.com said:

Depending on the store, I have been buying asparagus at 97¢ or 99¢ per
pound for several weeks now and I don't consider where I live to be an
especially low cost area. Although it used to be somewhat cheaper to live
here than it is now. However, the asparagus is grown in Mexico and I live
in Arizona, which I'm sure accounts for the low cost. Some of the nicest,
bright green, thin asparagus I've seen in a long time.

I know I've seen asparagus from Mexico around here too this time of year,
maybe that's where my latest batches came from. In summer, it can come from
closer areas. Some of the nicest asparagus I've seen in recent years came
from New Jersey, of all places. I guess there was a reason New Jersey was
called the "Garden State".

The "normal" price for asparagus at my local Safeway supermarket is $3.99 a
pound. I believe that is what I saw it at today. I won't buy it at that
price (or anywhere near it). That price is not necessarily indicative of the
price for the region as a whole. I live in downtown Washington, DC. I
believe Safeway sets prices store by store. But during sales, prices are
uniform region wide. The sales flyers always say "save up to [censored]" because
the normal price varies by store.

Quoted message said:

I like your inventive use of the tough, fibrous ends, as well as the use
of
salt pork. I'm going to try both the next time I make the soup.

I came up with the method by trial and error. Just so you avoid the errors,
here's the logic and the mistakes.

If you put the middle tender portion and the tough lower portion together to
cook, you can't separate it later. I've run the resulting soup through the
food mill to remove the fibrous material, and it ends up being way too thin.
One then has to rely totally on butter, flour, and cream for the enrichment.

If you just blend it like crazy (normal blender or stick blender) but don't
run it through the food mill, the soup is way too fibrous. You end up
chopping the tough fibers really short, but they are still there.

By keeping the middle and lower portions separate, you can use the food mill
to remove the fibrous material from the lower portion, but keep all of the
middle portion. That gives the soup a lot of body without a lot of fiber.
Your method of course retains the middle portion in its entirety also for
body (but doesn't make any use of the lower portion for flavor).

Tomorrow I'm off cooking in another direction entirely... that's why I was
in the Safeway today, getting the fixings for New England Boiled Dinner, or
what I call Corned Beef and Cabbage Deluxe. More root vegetables (turnips,
parsnips, beets), mostly.

--
( #wff_ng_7# at #verizon# period #net# )

"limey" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

#1.29 a pound yesterday at the Safeway. It will be on the menu tonight
along with liver and onions and mashed potatoes. Fruit for dessert.

Made Wayne's cream of asparagus soup, to have for lunch tomorrow. Tastes
delicious. Thanks, Wayne!

Dora

I got really lucky yesterday -- $.99 per pound. I bought a lot and am
thinking about going back for more. Love asparagus.
Janet

On Thu 16 Mar 2006 05:20:20p, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it wff_ng_7?

Quoted message said:

Wayne Boatwright' wayneboatwright_at_gmail.com said:

Depending on the store, I have been buying asparagus at 97¢ or 99¢ per
pound for several weeks now and I don't consider where I live to be an
especially low cost area. Although it used to be somewhat cheaper to
live here than it is now. However, the asparagus is grown in Mexico
and I live in Arizona, which I'm sure accounts for the low cost. Some
of the nicest, bright green, thin asparagus I've seen in a long time.

I know I've seen asparagus from Mexico around here too this time of
year, maybe that's where my latest batches came from. In summer, it can
come from closer areas. Some of the nicest asparagus I've seen in recent
years came from New Jersey, of all places. I guess there was a reason
New Jersey was called the "Garden State".

The "normal" price for asparagus at my local Safeway supermarket is
$3.99 a pound. I believe that is what I saw it at today. I won't buy it
at that price (or anywhere near it). That price is not necessarily
indicative of the price for the region as a whole. I live in downtown
Washington, DC. I believe Safeway sets prices store by store. But during
sales, prices are uniform region wide. The sales flyers always say "save
up to [censored]" because the normal price varies by store.

$3.99 is also the "normal" price around here, too. The prices at Safeway
here do not seem to vary from store to store. Typically, not all chains
are running good specials on asparagus at the same time. When I've seen it
at one or two chains ~$1.00/lb at one chain (including Safeway), it may
still be at $1.99-$3.99 at other chains. It certainly pays to read the ads
before shopping.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I like your inventive use of the tough, fibrous ends, as well as the
use of salt pork. I'm going to try both the next time I make the soup.

I came up with the method by trial and error. Just so you avoid the
errors, here's the logic and the mistakes.

If you put the middle tender portion and the tough lower portion
together to cook, you can't separate it later. I've run the resulting
soup through the food mill to remove the fibrous material, and it ends
up being way too thin. One then has to rely totally on butter, flour,
and cream for the enrichment.

If you just blend it like crazy (normal blender or stick blender) but
don't run it through the food mill, the soup is way too fibrous. You end
up chopping the tough fibers really short, but they are still there.

By keeping the middle and lower portions separate, you can use the food
mill to remove the fibrous material from the lower portion, but keep all
of the middle portion. That gives the soup a lot of body without a lot
of fiber. Your method of course retains the middle portion in its
entirety also for body (but doesn't make any use of the lower portion
for flavor).

All good tips! Thanks!

Quoted message said:

Tomorrow I'm off cooking in another direction entirely... that's why I
was in the Safeway today, getting the fixings for New England Boiled
Dinner, or what I call Corned Beef and Cabbage Deluxe. More root
vegetables (turnips, parsnips, beets), mostly.

I like those additions and often add rutabagas and parsnips. If I use
beets, I either serve them pickled or cook them separately in some of the
same broth. I don't want to run the risk of everything turning pink. :-)

--
Wayne Boatwright o¿o
____________________

BIOYA

Wayne Boatwright said:

On Thu 16 Mar 2006 05:20:20p, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it wff_ng_7?

Quoted message said:

Wayne Boatwright' wayneboatwright_at_gmail.com said:

Depending on the store, I have been buying asparagus at 97¢ or 99¢ per
pound for several weeks now and I don't consider where I live to be an
especially low cost area. Although it used to be somewhat cheaper to
live here than it is now. However, the asparagus is grown in Mexico
and I live in Arizona, which I'm sure accounts for the low cost. Some
of the nicest, bright green, thin asparagus I've seen in a long time.

I know I've seen asparagus from Mexico around here too this time of
year, maybe that's where my latest batches came from. In summer, it can
come from closer areas. Some of the nicest asparagus I've seen in recent
years came from New Jersey, of all places. I guess there was a reason
New Jersey was called the "Garden State".

The "normal" price for asparagus at my local Safeway supermarket is
$3.99 a pound. I believe that is what I saw it at today. I won't buy it
at that price (or anywhere near it). That price is not necessarily
indicative of the price for the region as a whole. I live in downtown
Washington, DC. I believe Safeway sets prices store by store. But during
sales, prices are uniform region wide. The sales flyers always say "save
up to [censored]" because the normal price varies by store.

$3.99 is also the "normal" price around here, too. The prices at Safeway
here do not seem to vary from store to store. Typically, not all chains
are running good specials on asparagus at the same time. When I've seen it
at one or two chains ~$1.00/lb at one chain (including Safeway), it may
still be at $1.99-$3.99 at other chains. It certainly pays to read the ads
before shopping.

am I the only one who shops according to whats on sale?

In article <[email hidden]>,

sarah bennett said:

am I the only one who shops according to whats on sale?

Nope. 🙂

One income, six people, soon to be seven, two in private school. We
shop the ads, the sales, consignment and thrift shops. 🙂

Regards,
Ranee

Remove do not & spam to e-mail me.

"She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands." Prov 31:13

http://arabianknits.blogspot.com/
http://talesfromthekitchen.blogspot.com/

Wayne Boatwright said:

On Thu 16 Mar 2006 06:17:09p, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it sarah
bennett?

Quoted message said:

Wayne Boatwright said:

On Thu 16 Mar 2006 05:20:20p, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it
wff_ng_7?

>"Wayne Boatwright" <wayneboatwright_at_gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>>Depending on the store, I have been buying asparagus at 97¢ or 99¢ per
>>pound for several weeks now and I don't consider where I live to be an
>>especially low cost area. Although it used to be somewhat cheaper to
>>live here than it is now. However, the asparagus is grown in Mexico
>>and I live in Arizona, which I'm sure accounts for the low cost. Some
>>of the nicest, bright green, thin asparagus I've seen in a long time.
>
>I know I've seen asparagus from Mexico around here too this time of
>year, maybe that's where my latest batches came from. In summer, it can
>come from closer areas. Some of the nicest asparagus I've seen in
>recent years came from New Jersey, of all places. I guess there was a
>reason New Jersey was called the "Garden State".
>
>The "normal" price for asparagus at my local Safeway supermarket is
>$3.99 a pound. I believe that is what I saw it at today. I won't buy it
>at that price (or anywhere near it). That price is not necessarily
>indicative of the price for the region as a whole. I live in downtown
>Washington, DC. I believe Safeway sets prices store by store. But
>during sales, prices are uniform region wide. The sales flyers always
>say "save up to [censored]" because the normal price varies by store.

$3.99 is also the "normal" price around here, too. The prices at
Safeway here do not seem to vary from store to store. Typically, not
all chains are running good specials on asparagus at the same time.
When I've seen it at one or two chains ~$1.00/lb at one chain
(including Safeway), it may still be at $1.99-$3.99 at other chains.
It certainly pays to read the ads before shopping.

am I the only one who shops according to whats on sale?

No, that's why I buy a ton of asparagus when it's 97-99c/lb. Likewise, I
look for good prices on other vegetables and fruits, as well as meats.

I don;t buy anything unless its on sale or at ALDI. Or like, if we're
out of TP or toothpaste and I need some ASAP. I get callled a chap
[censored] by my in-laws, so i assumed it was not a common practice.

--

saerah

http://anisaerah.blogspot.com/

email:
anisaerah at s b c global.net

"Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a
disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice."
-Baruch Spinoza

"There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly
what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear
and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There
is another theory which states that this has already happened."
-Douglas Adams

On Thu 16 Mar 2006 06:17:09p, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it sarah
bennett?

Quoted message said:

Wayne Boatwright said:

On Thu 16 Mar 2006 05:20:20p, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it
wff_ng_7?

Quoted message said:

"Wayne Boatwright" <wayneboatwright_at_gmail.com> wrote:

>Depending on the store, I have been buying asparagus at 97¢ or 99¢ per
>pound for several weeks now and I don't consider where I live to be an
>especially low cost area. Although it used to be somewhat cheaper to
>live here than it is now. However, the asparagus is grown in Mexico
>and I live in Arizona, which I'm sure accounts for the low cost. Some
>of the nicest, bright green, thin asparagus I've seen in a long time.

I know I've seen asparagus from Mexico around here too this time of
year, maybe that's where my latest batches came from. In summer, it can
come from closer areas. Some of the nicest asparagus I've seen in
recent years came from New Jersey, of all places. I guess there was a
reason New Jersey was called the "Garden State".

The "normal" price for asparagus at my local Safeway supermarket is
$3.99 a pound. I believe that is what I saw it at today. I won't buy it
at that price (or anywhere near it). That price is not necessarily
indicative of the price for the region as a whole. I live in downtown
Washington, DC. I believe Safeway sets prices store by store. But
during sales, prices are uniform region wide. The sales flyers always
say "save up to [censored]" because the normal price varies by store.

$3.99 is also the "normal" price around here, too. The prices at
Safeway here do not seem to vary from store to store. Typically, not
all chains are running good specials on asparagus at the same time.
When I've seen it at one or two chains ~$1.00/lb at one chain
(including Safeway), it may still be at $1.99-$3.99 at other chains.
It certainly pays to read the ads before shopping.

am I the only one who shops according to whats on sale?

No, that's why I buy a ton of asparagus when it's 97-99c/lb. Likewise, I
look for good prices on other vegetables and fruits, as well as meats.

--
Wayne Boatwright o¿o
____________________

BIOYA

Talk about comfort food. When I was a kid sick with a flu and my stomach
needed gentle food, my mother fed me Asparagus Soup or Creamed Asparagus on
toast.

Lefty
--
"Even a child who is pure at heart
And does his homework neatly
May become a wolf when the wolfsbane blooms
And the moon is full, completely."

"Wayne Boatwright" <wayneboatwright_at_gmail.com> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Thu 16 Mar 2006 03:43:32p, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it wff_ng_7?

Quoted message said:

limey said:

#1.29 a pound yesterday at the Safeway. It will be on the menu tonight
along with liver and onions and mashed potatoes. Fruit for dessert.

Made Wayne's cream of asparagus soup, to have for lunch tomorrow.
Tastes delicious. Thanks, Wayne!

You must live in a slightly lower cost area... asparagus was on sale
here at Safeway last week for $1.39 a pound (Mid Atlantic). Back up to
the normal outrageous price this week.

I made a few things out of it, including shirred eggs with asparagus and
browned butter. But the big thing last night was cream of asparagus
soup, by a "make it up as I go" recipe. Similar to Wayne's recipe
though.

I did do a couple of things differently, which might be of interest to
some. I have a hard time tossing the tough lower ends of the stalks, no
matter what I'm using the asparagus for. A couple of years ago I decided
to accumulate them for asparagus soup. So every time I make something
with asparagus, the tough lower ends get tossed into a bag in the
freezer. When I have enough saved up, I also buy a new fresh batch and
make soup.

The tough lower parts go into the pot first with the chicken stock,
coarsely chopped. After simmering about 15 minutes, I go through them
with the stick blender. After simmering 30 minutes total, this portion
goes through the food mill, removing all the fibrous material.

The middle third (also coarsely chopped) get steamed in the microwave.
These get added to the above liquid. I go through it again with the
stick blender. This is similar to Wayne's use of the blender on the
middle third. The asparagus tops then go in whole.

The other different thing I did this time was fry up a couple of ounces
of chopped salt pork. The cracklings from that also went into the soup
when the middle thirds of the asparagus did, so they also got pureed
into oblivion with the stick blender. Using the salt pork, obviously I
didn't add any salt to the soup (and I used low salt chicken stock). The
fat from the salt pork went in also, but that wasn't much as I used
quite lean salt pork.

I know it's a bit more work to use the lower ends of the asparagus, but
I am extracting quite a bit of flavor from them. I made my soup using 6
cups of chicken stock, and perhaps 3 pounds of asparagus total. I guess
proportionally my soup had significantly more asparagus in it than
Wayne's recipe.

Depending on the store, I have been buying asparagus at 97¢ or 99¢ per
pound for several weeks now and I don't consider where I live to be an
especially low cost area. Although it used to be somewhat cheaper to live
here than it is now. However, the asparagus is grown in Mexico and I live
in Arizona, which I'm sure accounts for the low cost. Some of the nicest,
bright green, thin asparagus I've seen in a long time.

I like your inventive use of the tough, fibrous ends, as well as the use

of

Quoted message said:

salt pork. I'm going to try both the next time I make the soup.

Thanks for the ideas!

--
Wayne Boatwright o¿o
____________________

BIOYA

On Thu 16 Mar 2006 06:25:28p, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it Ranee
Mueller?

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

sarah bennett said:

am I the only one who shops according to whats on sale?

Nope. 🙂

One income, six people, soon to be seven, two in private school. We
shop the ads, the sales, consignment and thrift shops. 🙂

Regards,
Ranee

You're one smart lady!

--
Wayne Boatwright o¿o
____________________

BIOYA

On Thu 16 Mar 2006 06:36:54p, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it sarah
bennett?

Quoted message said:

Wayne Boatwright said:

On Thu 16 Mar 2006 06:17:09p, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it sarah
bennett?

Quoted message said:

Wayne Boatwright wrote:

>On Thu 16 Mar 2006 05:20:20p, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it
>wff_ng_7?
>
>
>
>>"Wayne Boatwright" <wayneboatwright_at_gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Depending on the store, I have been buying asparagus at 97¢ or 99¢
>>>per pound for several weeks now and I don't consider where I live to
>>>be an especially low cost area. Although it used to be somewhat
>>>cheaper to live here than it is now. However, the asparagus is
>>>grown in Mexico and I live in Arizona, which I'm sure accounts for
>>>the low cost. Some of the nicest, bright green, thin asparagus I've
>>>seen in a long time.
>>
>>I know I've seen asparagus from Mexico around here too this time of
>>year, maybe that's where my latest batches came from. In summer, it
>>can come from closer areas. Some of the nicest asparagus I've seen in
>>recent years came from New Jersey, of all places. I guess there was a
>>reason New Jersey was called the "Garden State".
>>
>>The "normal" price for asparagus at my local Safeway supermarket is
>>$3.99 a pound. I believe that is what I saw it at today. I won't buy
>>it at that price (or anywhere near it). That price is not necessarily
>>indicative of the price for the region as a whole. I live in downtown
>>Washington, DC. I believe Safeway sets prices store by store. But
>>during sales, prices are uniform region wide. The sales flyers always
>>say "save up to [censored]" because the normal price varies by store.
>
>
>$3.99 is also the "normal" price around here, too. The prices at
>Safeway here do not seem to vary from store to store. Typically, not
>all chains are running good specials on asparagus at the same time.
>When I've seen it at one or two chains ~$1.00/lb at one chain
>(including Safeway), it may still be at $1.99-$3.99 at other chains.
>It certainly pays to read the ads before shopping.

am I the only one who shops according to whats on sale?

No, that's why I buy a ton of asparagus when it's 97-99c/lb. Likewise,
I look for good prices on other vegetables and fruits, as well as
meats.

I don;t buy anything unless its on sale or at ALDI. Or like, if we're
out of TP or toothpaste and I need some ASAP. I get callled a chap
[censored] by my in-laws, so i assumed it was not a common practice.

Sounds like your in-laws have an attitude problem. Either that, or money
to burn. I know many people who try to buy as many things as they can
when they're on sale. Unless you simply must have something when it's not
at a good price, it's foolish not to take advantage of specials.

--
Wayne Boatwright o¿o
____________________

BIOYA