I’ll admit, I have been caught up in the whole slow-cooking trend lately. Most of my slow-cooking has yielded succulent and tender results, like Tropical Island Salmon and Baby Back Ribs with Asian Orange Ginger Glaze, and yes, I’ve also had a couple of disasters. One night, I decided that we’d have an entire meal cooked sllllooowwwww. What a stupid idea. I’m not the most patient sort – and when I get bored (i.e. waiting in the kitchen with absolutely nothing to do except wait for the food to cook sllloooowwwwly….I end up doing my nails to pass time and then totally forget about the food in the oven.) The slow cooked filet mignon was so horrible that my husband had to officially ban me from cooking steaks for the remainder of the decade.
Somehow, I managed to transform expensive filet mignon steaks into very expensive hockey pucks.
Not even a jackhammer could get through those babies. But please, please don’t let my self-diagnosed Attention Deficit Disorder stop you from trying this) Thank goodness that the slow-cooked asparagus came out delicious…allow me to take a little moment of your precious time an introduce you to slllooooowww butter braised asparagus. Once you try this, you’ll wish for another full season of asparagus to come around. Gently cooking asparagus will give you melt-in-your-mouth stalks, yet still retaining the bright green color and all of its pure flavor. Top it with shaved parmesan and sea salt to create a luxurious dish.
Slow Butter Braised Asparagus
Ingredients
- A bunch of asparagus, hard part of stalks cut off
- 1 teaspoon of minced shallots and/or garlic
- 2-4 tablespoons of butter (depends on how much asparagus you have)
- sea salt
- squeeze of lemon
- shaved parmesan
Instructions
- Heat a large saute pan over medium heat. Add butter. When butter hot, add shallots/garlic, turn heat to low and fry until fragrant. 2. Add asparagus, cover with a tight-fitting lid (important -if lid isn't tight, the steam escapes, you can try using a thin dishtowel under lid and fold ends up over the top of the lid to create a nice seal).
- Cook on low for 10-12 minutes, depending on how soft you like your asparagus. If your asparagus can't all fit in one layer in your pan, stir a couple of times during the cooking process. After 8 minutes, take a peek. I usually can tell by cutting part of the stalk with a butter knife and adjust my cooking time.
- If it looks like the pan needs more butter, feel free to add another tablespoon in, or just throw in a tablespoon of water.
- When cooked to your liking, remove asparagus, pour the butter/shallot/garlic mixture over, sprinkle with sea salt, a squeeze of lemon and top with shaved parmesan.
Did you try this recipe? Please leave a star rating in the recipe card below and leave a review in the comment section! I always appreciate your feedback and I know other readers do, too!
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Does this method cook the stems to tender? I cut about an inch off the end, but unless I boil (yuck) the ends remain hard & stringy. I try to buy the skinniest ones I can find. Thanks for the recipe, looks fabulous.
Hi Bonni – Actually, the fatter asparagus work really well. If you have ends that are hard and stringy that means you didn’t cut enough of the stem off. Use your hands to bend the stalk. Where it naturally breaks is where you should cut.
Oh my how I love my asparagus!!! I grow it fresh in my garden so every year I can’t wait to eat it, just bought some at the store (not as good as garden fresh) I’m trying this now looks AWESOME#!! Mmmmmm just ate it I love this recipe the darn things disappeared faster then normal, knew I should have gotten two bunches guess I’ll have to wait for my garden to grow then.
I will try this. Thank you so much for making the recipe easy to print!
This came out really well. I cooked the asparagus with the garlic and butter still in the pan. Wasn’t clear from the recipe if I had to cook it together or not. Nonetheless the burnt crisp garlic added its own element to this yummy recipe! Thanks for sharing.
Fantastic! I used shallots only. Braised the asparagus in a enameled cast iron Dutch oven for about 8 minutes. This may be the best asparagus I have ever eaten. Green, crisp, full of taste. I may never go back to boiling asparagus. This method eliminates the “wilt” and the mushy/slimy skin you sometimes get with boiled asparagus. Thank you so much for this recipe. 🙂
PS Had no parmesan, used pecorino romano – delicious!
Made this for Easter dinner with tiny stemmed asparagus. Amazing. May be the best way yet to serve them. Thank you!
Eatdrinknbmerry- I don’t make it a habit of smelling my pee pee. I don’t know why people care about that!! 😉
Mae- Thank you!
Tanya- I hope you post your version when you make it.
thanks for the tip on the asparagus.. imma make some… yumm!
Those asparagus looks divine! Nicely plated too. 🙂
asparagus, parmesan cheese and lemon really go well together – a culinary menage a trois. people say that asparagus makes urine smell but i could careless – asparagus are too good.
RM- I never would have thought to add shrimp paste. Can’t wait to try – I want a STINKY HOUSE TOO!
Tiger- I use so many one-finger appliances that I think I need to give the finger a rest. Getting carpal tunnel!
Thank you Ellie!! Asparagus deserve to have sex appeal too! Notice in my photo they were naked except for a little parmesan bikini bottom
V- I hope you took a photo of it and posted on your blog. I love to see OPA: other peoples asparagus!
Steeped- I got lucky and was able to get the asparagus here in FL. I’m assuming that you can still get them in CA too. Seems like CA and FL growing seasons are similar.
Amy- yeah, my husband didn’t quite use those words about the filet…he said something about “donkey ass”
Hi Joey- Thanks for stopping by. You have lovely photography on your site too!
and I don’t like bitter gourd either.
Lydia- I sent email with question for you!
My favorite way to cook asparagus is on the grill, tossed beforehand with a bit of sea salt, pepper and olive oil. It’s the complete opposite of slow cooking — because I’m not a very patient cook! Your asparagus does look absolutely delicious, so maybe I’ll try to slow down….
What a great way to have asparagus! Thanks for passing this recipe along 🙂 My first time here and I am hungry! beautiful photos and delicious food…I’ll be back for more 🙂
Mmm this looks great! I think I can still get some asparagus so I’ll have to try this! 🙁 Shame about the filet mignon though.
Ooh, this looks glorious. I hope there’s asparagus at the next farmer’s market. I feel like spring has been fleeting this year (stone fruits started showing up three weeks ago!), but in California who knows?
Beautiful asparagus. I just grilled mine today, but yours looked better. 🙂
Have asparagus ever looked this sexy? I think not!
Off topic. . . Geraldson Community Farm CSA is just getting off the ground, and it looks like this summer will be its first season with fresh, local produce. Thought you’d be interested. . . I’m hoping to take my boys out there for the community workday in a couple of weeks.
You are very patient with your asparagus. I usually just stir-fry them or even lazier, blanch them :O
And I did say lazy me, isn’t it ? Even my slow-cooking is assisted with “touch of a button” technique (if it’s even a technique).
Is slow-cooker the appliance or me ? *lol*
I love asparagus, but usually I stir-fy them the Malaysian way, that is, with pungent ingredients such as shrimp paste and dried shrimp–the after smell is sure to win me “The Stinkiest House” in my own neighborhood, but hey, it’s darn good and very addictive…one you have had it, there is no turning back. Bwahahahahha. 😛
LPC- I use unsalted. Which is why I finish with sea salts in the end. Salted would be fine, just use less salt to finish.
Melinda- I think all our moms learnt the same “hockey puck steak” recipe in home ec class.
Ninja- thank you! let me know how it turns out.
I have that recipe for hockey puck steak! I think my mother passed it on to me. It wasn’t considered cooked till it was charcoal black.
I’ve just done a season of asparagus recipes as I love it so. I think this is my favourite way, as the asparagus is best the less you do to it.
Looks amazing! One question: Is that salted or unsalted butter? And as to which one it is, how do you think it would taste with the other?
I love asparagus. I’m going to try this out.