The first signal that winter is over and green vegetables are on the way. They’re available year-round from warmer climates, but true local or regional asparagus are worth the wait.
Preparing: Snap off the bottom of each spear; it will naturally break in the right place. I recommend peeling asparagus (use a vegetable peeler) to remove the fibrous skin from just below the tip to the base; this step isn’t necessary if the spears are pencil thin.
Best cooking methods: steaming, sautéing, roasting, grilling
When are they done? When you can easily insert
a skewer or thin-bladed knife into the thickest part of the stalk. Undercooked asparagus is crisp; overcooked asparagus is mushy.
Other vegetables you can use: green or wax beans, sugar snap peas, broccoli raab
Pasta primavera, which means “springtime pasta,” first appeared on the menu at Le Cirque in the 1970s, and Sirio Maccioni, that restaurant’s owner, was quoted in 1991 in the New York Times saying, “It seemed like a good idea and people still like it.”
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