When's the Last Time You had a Casserole?
More specifically, when's the last time you had a quinoa casserole?
Asparagus is one of those foods that we almost never eat outside the short growing season in Wisconsin. It’s usually one of the first things you’ll see at the early spring markets.
I’ve never been much of a forager, mostly because I’m terrified of killing myself (or shitting myself) from eating something that I’m sure is fine to eat, but definitely isn’t. That said, asparagus is pretty easy to spot and safe to forage if you find some in the wild.
I love this meme about how asparagus grows:
It’s true, it looks fake as heck. It’s also a real pain in the patakis to harvest. For that reason, I really prefer to personally exchange money with the person who harvests my asparagus. If you want to learn a bit more about asparagus, how it grows, and how it’s harvested, this video does a good job of explaining.
Asparagus is a fairly versatile vegetable. While it’s often served simply roasted or grilled, it can be used in lots of dishes from omelets to stir fries to pizza to fried rice. This is the first time that I can recall including it in a casserole.
Ok, let’s talk about casseroles. Did you grow up eating them? I know I did. You might have called it “hot dish” or “hotdish”. If you’re french, you’d make “Cassoulet”; in greek cuisine it might be called “moussaka”; in Italy you might call it “timballo”. All of these things are generally a combination of meat, vegetables, and starch cooked in a single pot or pan.
Growing up, our casseroles were typically ground meat, canned or frozen vegetables, and rice or potatoes. It would often include a can or two of cream of [something] soup and a delicious yet wholly unhealthy amount of cheese. That soup was the glue that held everything together, and it didn’t occur to me until I was probably 30 years old that someone might actually just eat a bowl of cream of mushroom soup. For me, it was an ingredient in casseroles and that’s it.
It was also a revelation to me at some point in adulthood that you could actually use fresh vegetables in a casserole. Who knew?! For our algorithmic cooking style where we find a vessel that will handle any kind of vegetable that we can throw at it, the mighty casserole just makes sense.
Asparagus Quinoa Casserole
This recipe is inspired by The Bittman Project’s Double-Quinoa Casserole with Asparagus and Dill. It was, I think, the first time I’ve used quinoa in a casserole. I also packed this baby with spring-time green goodness of spinach, cilantro, and scallions as well as edamame to round out the spectrum of greens represented and brightened things up with a bit of lemon.
You can learn more and find my recipe here: Nifty Nicki’s Asparagus Quinoa Casserole.
This recipe is a keeper for asparagus and citrus lovers alike.
That’s it for now. There’s more spring-time goodness to come including some very exciting local dried beans!