There’s nothing quite like fresh asparagus is there? But, in order for it to taste its absolute best, it’s crucial it is cooked properly. Improperly cooked, this vegetable can become mushy and tasteless and not something of pure joy, like it most certainly should be.
This charred chili- lemon asparagus with homemade vegan parmesan is going to change your life, we can assure you of that. It’s 100% DELICIOUS and will act as the perfect side dish to any meal (or even great to just eat a plate on its own, no judgement ;).
What’s So “Great” About Asparagus Anyway?
Asparagus is a springtime vegetable known for its long, pointy spear type appearance. It has a delicate flavour, therefore must be cooked in a way that enhances its taste, and even more importantly, its texture.
Texture in you asparagus spears is crucial for maximum enjoyment. You want CRUNCH, but not too much. You also want to enhance the flavour by getting some kind of charred effect on this vegetable, because that will make a huge difference to the end result.
Charred chili-lemon asparagus is a wonderful side dish to almost any meal and should be eaten when super fresh and in season for best results. This vegetable perishes easily, especially its delicate tips that can go mushy when left for too long.
Because of asparagus’s long spear-type shape, it makes it a great dipping veggie too for those ‘dippy’ type sauces.
Asparagus Nutritional Benefits
Asparagus is LOADED with health benefits, making it a great way to top up your nutrition in a tasty and exciting way.
These health benefits include:-
- WEIGHT LOSS – Asparagus is super high in fibre and has good amounts of protein for a vegetable, making it the perfect weight loss diet food. It’s also very low in calories, meaning you can munch down on as much of this vegetable as you like without fear of gaining weight, so long as you don’t add fats.
- HELPS PREVENT UTI’S – The wonderful asparagus is a natural diuretic that helps to flush excess salt from your body. This helps you to pee more frequently, thus flushing out harmful bacteria that could potentially cause infections.
- VITAMIN E – This green vegetable also happens to be pretty high in healing vitamin E. This crucial antioxidant can help you to heal wounds and minimise the effect of those harmful free radicals that accelerate the aging process.
- OTHER ANTIOXIDANTS – Asparagus, like most vegetables, contain antioxidants in general that help keep you feeling and looking good, alongside a general plant-rich diet.
- GUT HEALTH – Asparagus is a pre-biotic food that feeds the body’s ‘good’ bacteria, helping out your gut and general health.
- HIGH IN FOLIC ACID – Just 4 asparagus spears will provide you with 22% of your daily folic acid needs. Folic acid is crucial for the production of red blood cells, and essential for DNA synthesis. It’s also a vital supplement when pregnant to help baby’s brain and spine grow as they should.
- VITAMIN K – Asparagus is high in vitamin K. This vitamin is crucial for your bone health and coagulation of the blood.
- MOOD ENHANCER – Full of the B vitamin folate, this delicious green vegetable can help boost your mood and make you feel less irritable; especially good for that ‘time of the month’.
Ho To Cook Charred Chili-Lemon Asparagus
This dish is very simple to prepare and cook, but must be done right for best results.
It’s crucial to get your asparagus spears al-dente, as in not too hard and not too soft, if you want them to taste their best.
Secondly, you will want to get them charred up properly without burning them up to a cinder. The idea is to cook high and fast, leaving the outside blackened and the inside crunchy. This is where the magic lies, and what will make your charred chili-lemon asparagus spears utterly delicious.
For The Homemade Parmesan
No need to buy expensive and highly unhealthy shop-bought parmesan. Our vegan version is completely whole foods plant based compliant and will give you a dose of heart healthy fats to boot.
Luckily for you, you can make your homemade parmesan in seconds from store cupboard ingredients.
Charred Chili-Lemon Asparagus With Homemade Parmesan
Equipment
- Good non-stick frying pan or griddle pan
- Fish slice
- Chopping knife
- Chopping board
- Cheese grater
- High speed blender, spice grinder or coffee grinder
Ingredients
- 2-300 g Fresh asparagus stalks (gauge how much you need by the size of your frying pan and the amount of servings you need. The rest of the ingredients list will serve about 4 people as a side dish, which is roughly 2-300 grams.
- Drizzle tamari sauce
- 1 unwaxed lemon
- chili flakes to taste
- Salt and cracked black pepper
- Hot water for sauteing
For the parmesan
- Handful raw walnuts
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- Pinch garlic powder
- Pinch salt and pepper
Instructions
- First prepare you asparagus stalks by washing thoroughly and removing the fibrous ends that aren't good for eating. The easiest way to do this is to gently snap the end with your fingers. It will break naturally just above the fibrous part. This may sound silly, but be sure you remove the right end, not the pointed, spikey end which is the bets part. Another way to remove the fibrous, inedible part is to simply cut with a knife around 1.5 inches away from the ends and you should be good.
- At this point you will also need your lemon prepared ready for the end of cooking time. Do this by using the fine grate on your cheese grater to remove the rind. You will be needing this for serving. Now juice your lemon and remove all seeds and put this aside also.
- Next have your frying or griddle pan heated on a high heat setting (which you will be keeping it on the whole time). Once hot, add your asparagus in neat rows. Do not just throw it in so that the pieces land on top of each other. You need to make sure that they all get an even cooking on every surface area. Let your asparagus fry for a minute or so on high heat with no added water to begin the charring process.
- After a minute or so, you can add some splashes of hot water, your tamari sauce, chili flakes and black cracked pepper. Continue frying without disturbing your asparagus for another minute until it begins to blacken. Add more splashes of hot water if it begins to dry out too much.
- Now, using a fork, carefully turn all your asparagus stalks about a third of the way around and begin charring the other side. It's a good idea to push down manually with a fish slice to really get some great colour on there. Add more splashes of hot water as needed.
- Once this new side is charred, you can turn again to the remaining part of the asparagus and repeat the process. The whole process of frying your asparagus should not take more than 5-6 minutes, depending on how thin it is to begin with. Thick asparagus stalks may take longer. You can check whether your asparagus is cooked or not by sticking a sharp knife into the thickest part. You're looking for an al-dente texture.
- Once you're satisfied with your asparagus, turn of your heat but leave it in the pan. Squeeze your lemon juice over it and stir well, carefully so that you don't damage or break your tips..
- You're now ready to serve with your lemon rind and vegan parmesan.
For the parmesan
- Roughly chop your walnuts on a chopping board to break them down a bit (only needed if you're not using a blender).
- Add all your ingredients, including the walnuts, to a spice grinder, coffee grinder or high speed blender. Pulse for only a couple of seconds. Check to see whether your parmesan is a good texture. You'll need it kind of like a gritty powder. If you need to blend for another couple of seconds, go ahead, but don't over-do it.
- The times above may vary depending of the type of equipment you are using. The reason it's vital you're careful with this process is because you don't want to over-blend, because those oils from your nuts will start clumping and sticking and the whole thing will turn into a clump.
- Go slowly and keep checking texture.
- Leftovers can put them in an air-tight container and refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.
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