Saturday, April 24, 2010

Asparagus with Sesame Citrus Sauce

I love asparagus. I ususally cook it on a baking sheet with olive oil and salt and pepper. Sometimes you need to shake things up a little. This was just as easy and pretty good--from Food Network's Paula Deen. It has a nice balance of sesame and citrus.



Asparagus with Sesame Citrus Sauce

1 bunch asparagus
1 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus a splash
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon sesame seeds, plus extra for garnish
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Salt
Prepare the asparagus. Snap off bases of spears and discard. Bring a small amount of salted water to boil in a saucepan, add a splash of lemon; add asparagus and cook until tender. Remove asparagus and shock in an ice bath to stop the cooking and to keep its bright green color.

Melt the 3 tablespoons of butter in saucepan. Add 1 tablespoon sesame seeds and cook, stirring 2 to 3 minutes over moderate heat, until lightly browned. Add 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 2 tablespoons orange juice, drizzle with 1 teaspoon of sesame oil. Whisk to make sure it's fully emulsified. Add salt, to taste. Add asparagus to sauce, and toss until coated. Serve hot and garnish with extra sesame seeds, if desired.

3 comments:

  1. ooo, yummy! Will have to give this a try-might just do that this week. I love asparagus and didnt' really know of various ways to make it. I'll probably do it w/o the orange juice though. That's just my personal taste-I usually don't like my non-dessert items to be sweet in any way.

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  2. I don't think that the orange juice made it sweet at all. Especially with the sesame oil giving it that earthy, umami kind of flavor. But whatever you like :)

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  3. I didn't have orange juice or sesame oil, so I just used olive oil. And it turned out pretty good!

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