Don’t let the grocery retailer idiot you—asparagus has a season (and it’s not the center of August). Spring is prime time for these inexperienced stalks, once they’re at their vibrant, perky, taut-skinned greatest. If you happen to’re grilling, roasting, or steaming asparagus, or in any other case planning to serve them entire, search for thick spears. The ratio of fiber to candy tender flesh is best distributed than their pencil-thin (although admittedly elegant) siblings, and for the needs of grilling, they’re simpler to govern with much less threat of falling by way of the grates. Save skinny asparagus for stir-fries, sautés, or different conditions during which they’ll be sliced up.
The season is short-lived, so the principles are simple: Cook dinner asparagus merely and sometimes, and serve it with one thing salty and fatty to offset its candy, nutty grassiness. This tahini mayo is an on the spot favourite that checks all of the containers. It’s veritable tremendous sauce as silky as hollandaise, with the anchovy-garlic sharpness of bagna cauda, each basic pairings for asparagus. The remainder of the yr serve the sauce with radishes or cucumbers to dip into, pooled below tomatoes, alongside breaded rooster, or tossed with kale as a form of tahini Caesar.
