This chilled asparagus side dish goes the distance

January is not the best time for fresh asparagus. Late spring, at my local farmers market, is when I find stellar fresh asparagus.

If I lived in Peru, now’s the time for good asparagus, which is what I found in my local supermarket today. I was surprised, after traveling as many miles as it had, that this asparagus looked as good as it did. And, once cooked, it had a classic asparagus flavor; almost sweet.

This story begins with a friend asking me what he could take to a dinner party besides his famous roasted glazed carrots. A 90-minute drive to this dinner party meant just about anything he cooked at his house would be way overcooked by the time he and it arrived.

He asked: “How about asparagus?”

I chuckled. I told him that when I’m making asparagus it takes about 2 minutes for it to complete cooking before I served it.

You read that right: 2 minutes.

By the time he arrived at the party that already cooked asparagus, if kept warm, would certainly be a grayish, stringy mush.

Then I remembered I’d made cooked and chilled asparagus dressed with Italian dressing for a party last summer.

I suggested that since there is decent supermarket asparagus available, he could cook it my way, and shock it by chilling it in ice water. That asparagus, as long as it remained chilled, would stay fine until he arrived at the dinner party. He could then lay it out on a platter, drizzle on some high-quality Italian dressing and serve it.

My friend was delighted by the idea. On dinner party day, he cooked the asparagus the way I suggested, chilling it in ice water.

Before the party, he sent me a picture and wrote: “Just finished boiling and chillin’ the asparagus. Sampled a couple with dressing … FABULOUS!”

After the party, he told me there was nothing left for him to take home. (He did have some leftover carrots, though.) And one person asked for the recipe. Success.

It’s almost a sin how easy this is to make, especially using bottled salad dressing. Plus, something so delicious should not be this low in calories and high in fiber.

Since you don’t have to wait for spring, give it a try now.

• Don Mauer welcomes questions, comments and recipe makeover requests. Write to him at 1leanwizard@gmail.com.

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Chilled and Dressed Fresh Asparagus

1 1/2 pounds fresh asparagus

Bottled Italian salad dressing (organic preferred)

Place the asparagus spears in a colander and rinse under cold water.

Add about a half-inch of water to a 12-inch skillet. One at a time, holding each spear at the bottom and near the top, bend each from the bottom until it snaps. Transferring each one to the skillet. Discard the bottom ends.

Place the skillet over high heat and cover. When the water begins boiling, turn off the heat and cook for 2 minutes for thinner spears; 3-4 minutes for thicker spears.

While the asparagus cooks, fill a large bowl about halfway with cold water and add ice. At the end of the 2 minutes (or longer for thicker spears), using tongs, transfer the cooked asparagus to the ice water, until the asparagus is cold, about 5 minutes.

Transfer the chilled asparagus to a rectangular casserole dish lined with two paper towels, cover, and refrigerate.

Uncover the casserole dish, remove the paper towels, drizzle some dressing over the asparagus, and serve. A squeeze of fresh lemon juice perks up the flavor.

Note: This is even better with homemade olive oil and vinegar salad dressing.

Serves 6.

Nutrition values per serving without dressing: 18 calories (5% from fat), 0 g fat (0 g saturated fat), 3.5 g carbohydrates (1.6 net carbs), 1.7 g sugars, 1.9 g fiber, 2 g protein, 0 mg cholesterol, 2 mg sodium.

— Don Mauer