The essence of asparagus

If you're really eating seasonally, asparagus season is short so you have to take advantage while you can. The recipes in the recent asparagus episode both covered up the flavor of the asparagus with some strongly-favored sauces. If you're ready to graduate to the essence of asparagus, this is the recipe to try, with nothing but asparagus, butter, and a little salt and pepper. This is the same technique used to cook Penelope Casa's Garlic Green Beans: trapping the steam from the butter (which is about 15% water) and the liquid in the asparagus in a covered pan to cook the asparagus. Mom said it's "better than candy," and she should know the way she demolished 95% of the candy she "gave" to Brad and Cassie during the Easter mesh-bag hunt. Here's one of the few remaining stragglers (only because Mom doesn't like Jolly Ranchers).

Pan-Browned Asparagus with Butter

Adapted from Vegetables Every Day (2001) by Jack Bishop

Time: 20 minutes

Edna Lewis has a very similar recipe in her seminal The Taste of Country Cooking (1976). She says the asparagus may be cooked whole or cut into 2-inch pieces. If cooked in pieces, the tender tips should not be added until the stalks are nearly done, as the tips cook more quickly.

1 pound thin or medium, not thick, asparagus
1½ tablespoons unsalted butter
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper

    1. Trim or snap off the woody ends of the asparagus spears. If the asparagus is thicker, scrape the bottom halves of the asparagus with a vegetable peeler, if you like. Rinse the asparagus in cold water. (See the headnote on cooking the asparagus whole or in pieces.)
    2. Melt the butter, over medium heat, in a large skillet or sautè pan that has a lid. Add the asparagus, with some water still clinging to them, to the pan in a single layer. Sprinkle with a good pinch of salt. Cover and cook until the asparagus are crisp-tender, about 5–7 minutes depending on how thick they are. If it sounds or smells like the asparagus are cooking too fast, turn the heat down a little.
    3. Remove the cover and raise the heat to medium-high or a notch below. Cook, stirring or shaking the pan occasionally, until the asparagus are lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Grind over some fresh black pepper, and taste for salt. Serve promptly. Serves 2–3.