Three asparagus-appreciation recipes, hooray spring

Featuring favas + tonnato, capers, and a quick tarragon-Dijon mayo

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Welcome to today’s Stories from Catbird Cottage! As spring shows up more with each day I’m filled with a giddy lightness - very much enjoying the landscape transforming into one filled with buds, new birdsongs, and the re-greening of everything.

Garlic shoots coming along, the hellebores being magical, pruned forsythia adding sunshine indoors, and duck manure, ready for pickup!

The pendulum here swings from having completed our taxes, yaaaaay (a herculean feat every year as someone who is self-employed) to planting seeds: metaphorical ones like exciting warm weather events, and innumerable actual seeds. I’ve been dutifully checking in, eager to see them push through the soil, and nurture them into thriving plants.

This next accomplishment may only impress those of you who garden, but I’m going to take my chances… I’m feeling pretty proud at recently scoring aged horse and cow manure, *as well as* duck manure for my garden beds this season! Why is this exciting news? These are amendments - just like compost - that supercharge the soil’s fertility. It’s like giving vitamins and special nutrients to everything I plant out, and using the brilliance of traditional practices and not letting anything go to waste, to do so. And they were totally free.

I am so eager to see what this will mean, 3 months from now… Remember this moment when I share my summer garden ;)

As a gesture of thanks to farmer friends and these neighbors with livestock, I gifted homemade cake and staples from my collection (purple shiso chimichurri and preserved lemons). Gifts like these always feel like building community. Loving our neighbors - and mutual aid - is a way to resist these stark times. Another way: an amazing national day of action, tomorrow. If you’re fed up with what’s been taking place across the country and beyond, join others at your local Hands Off event, and express solidarity on the issues so many of us rely on to thrive, like food safety, social security, less surveillance, funding for scientific research, and so much more.

Returning to the crucial foundation that is food, even this early into the season, there are new, tender, juicy ingredients making their way to the farmers market and grocery stores. This much-awaited season makes for easier eating, where only brief cooking - or whipping up a flavorful sauce - is needed to make foods to shine. Happily, asparagus has become a ubiquitous spring veggie. Thanks to that your success is all but guaranteed as you endeavor any in this trio of recipes. If the asparagus isn’t looking its best when you go to market, feel free to swap in tender green beans, snap peas, broccoli florets (even cauliflower) and the recipes will turn out just as great.

Salmon with asparagus, beans + tarragon Dijon mayo
Serves 2

mayonnaise
1/4 cup prepared mayonnaise
1 tbsp Greek yogurt
1 generous tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp finely chopped fresh tarragon leaves

salmon and veg assembly
6 oz fresh scarlet runner or romano beans, or substitute green beans (stems trimmed), snap peas, or thawed frozen peas
1/2 bunch asparagus, top 3-4 inches only (save the stems for stock)
12 oz wild coho salmon, portioned into two filets
extra virgin olive oil, for sautéing
1 tbsp butter, divided
kosher salt
flake salt and freshly cracked black pepper

Stir the mayonnaise ingredients together, taste and adjust seasoning as needed, and refrigerate. This step can be done three days in advance.

Pat dry the fillets and place them skin-side up on a tray. Season with kosher salt and allow them to come to room temperature.

In a cast iron skillet, sauté the beans (or snap peas) and asparagus in a drizzle of olive oil over medium heat for 5 minutes, or until they are bright green and softened, turning occasionally. If using thawed peas, add them to the asparagus during the last minute while cooking the asparagus. Transfer all to a serving platter.

Add a generous drizzle of oil and place the salmon fillets skin-side down. Sear them undisturbed for 30 seconds, then add half the butter. Swirl to surround the fillets with the foaming butter. After another minute or two, the edges will have turned opaque. Turn the fillets skin side-up, then drizzle a little more oil and add the remaining butter. Swirl to coat.

Tilt the pan towards you to gather the hot fat with a tasting spoon and baste the surfaces. Repeat tilting and basting both fillets for 30 seconds. Cook 4-5 minutes total for medium rare.

Arrange the salmon on top of the beans and asparagus. Serve the tarragon mayo alongside, spooning generous dollops onto all once at the table.

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Another easy sauce that saves the day, tonnato makes an ideal pairing for seasonal fava beans and tender asparagus spears. Once the sauce is made, it will keep for up to 1 week. It is so versatile and delicious, though, it likely won’t last that long. If you cannot find fava beans, fresh or thawed frozen peas work just as well. Similarly, feel free to explore different crunchy bits instead of the sunflower seeds, such as toasted pecans, or walnuts. After draining the tuna, save that oil for salads or cooked grains.