Asparagus Tips

A side dish written in shorthand for a cook who already knows her way around a can opener. The whole thing hinges on gentle heat: canned tips are fully cooked already, and anything approaching a boil turns them to threads.

• Quantity and yieldThe recipe gives no quantity. A common can of asparagus tips runs about 14-15 oz net weight (drained weight considerably less), which will serve perhaps three to four as a vegetable side; allow two cans if it is the only vegetable at a table of six.
• Heat, not cookWarm the tips in their liquor over low heat for three or four minutes, just until steam rises. Lift them with a slotted spoon rather than pouring them into a colander; the spears break at the slightest handling.
• Salt lastCanned asparagus is generally packed in salted water, so although the recipe says to season well with salt, it is worth tasting first and salting to suit.
• The liquor"Their own liquor" means the canning brine. If you want it as a sauce, pour it off into a small pan, reduce it by half, then whisk in the butter or cream and spoon it over the warmed tips rather than heating everything together.
• Cream or butterFigure roughly 2 tablespoons butter or 3 tablespoons cream per can. Cream should be warmed through rather than boiled hard, which can make it separate.
• ParsleyFlat-leaf or curly both work; add it off the heat so it stays green. A tablespoon chopped fine is enough for one can.
• If you would rather use fresh or frozenFrozen tips are closer in texture to canned and need about three minutes in shallow salted water. Fresh spears want four to six minutes depending on thickness, and there will be no liquor, so build the butter sauce with a spoonful of the cooking water.
• ServingThe recipe does not say how to plate them; a common period presentation for dressed asparagus was on buttered toast points or in pastry shells to catch the sauce.