10 Delicious Ways You Can Make the Most of Leftover (or too much) Asparagus

I recently splashed out and bought some Cornish asparagus which, as you probably know, is delicious.  I ate half of the tips with some smoked trout fillets – not just any smoked trout fillets these were Lidls’ smoked trout fillets which were (quite correctly) recommended to me by a friend.  I couldn’t quite finish the fish.  Hence today’s lunch … 

I lightly crisped the leftover trout in a little butter whilst poaching some asparagus tips. 

I gently heated some M & S Hollandaise which surprised me in 2 ways.  Firstly that it contained cream and secondly that I didn't make my own but it’s a lot of faff to make for a person who has just been to M & S! 

Here, however, is my recipe for Hollandaise Sauce which I made gallons of every Sunday for several years - not as a hobby, you understand, but as part of my job.

I still have the some asparagus left with which I may do one of the following ... 

9 More Ideas for Leftover or Just a Little Asparagus

~   Serve as “soldiers” with dippy eggs.

~   Just a little asparagus and several people to serve?   Make a pretty side dish of peas, snow or snap peas and asparagus all tossed together in butter. 

~   Toss just cooked asparagus in butter with new pots.

~   Add leftover asparagus to omelette, frittata or scrambled eggs add bacon or ham if you can (and you want to!).

~   Stir into risotto.

~   Add to stir fries.

~   Toss with cooked pasta and Alfredo Sauce – add ham or chicken or smoked fish etc.

~   Raw asparagus - cut very thin diagonal slices or shave into fine strips with a potato peeler and toss in a salad with a light lemony, peppery vinaigrette, finely shaved Parmesan would be a good addition to this.

If your asparagus stalks are woody they won’t make good soup as they will remain woody whatever you do with them BUT you could cook them in a little water to make asparagus stock and then use the stock to give a boost to risotto, soups and sauces.

Asparagus Pesto and Frazzled Prosciutto

Looking in the fridge today, in a hungry mood, I found 3 asparagus spears, 2 slices of prosciutto and the last bit of a piece of Gran Padano. I very nearly scrambled some eggs with the asparagus and ham but inspiration struck, as if often the way. So this is what I made ...

Tagliatelle with Asparagus Pesto & Frazzled Prosciutto

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~  Snapped the tips from the asparagus, set them aside and cooked the rest of the stalks in salted water till completely tender.

~   Scooped the cooked asparagus out of the boiling water and replaced them with 3 coils of tagliatelle.

~   While the pasta was cooking I did 2 things (yes, you’ve guessed, I’m a woman!) … firstly I puréed the cooked asparagus with a knob of butter and a handful of grated Gran Padano, and, secondly, I cut the prosciutto into strips and frazzled it in tablespoon of olive oil together with the asparagus tips. For how to frazzle prosciutto and other ingredients see here.

~   I lifted the ham and asparagus out of the frying pan with a slotted spoon and added the residual oil to the asparagus purée.

~   Then, I expect you’ve guessed, I drained the pasta and tossed everything together.

I was very pleased with the result and am thinking of doing a similar thing soon with tenderstem broccoli. 

I love cooking with leftovers, they inspire me, which is why I wrote Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers!