Asparagus with Tomatoes, Pinenuts and Goat Cheese

My father grew beautiful asparagus.  In the spring, just when Connecticut would start to warm up, my father would end his day down at our meadow, pull out his jack-knife and cut a few choice spears of asparagus and bring them to my mother to add to dinner.  They were perfect and tender – my mother would count out the pieces and divide them among the plates.  It was well into my married life before I had the nerve to purchase this vegetable from the grocery store – I knew it would never live up to that memory.  This still stands true, it is very hard to beat asparagus which has just been picked.  Today I happened upon some locally grown asparagus –  I purchased it and ran straight to my kitchen.

About 4 servings

1 pounds asparagus, trimmed of their woody stems

1/4 cup pine nuts

2 ounces fresh goat cheese, crumbled

1/2 cup yellow cherry tomatoes, cut in half

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

• Wash and trim the asparagus
• Boil 5 quarts of water seasoned with 1 tablespoon of salt
• Bring to a rolling boil, add the asparagus and when it comes back to a rolling boil cook for exactly 1 minute (time it)
• Drain immediately into a colander and let cool
• Brown the pine nuts in the toaster oven, set it on the lightest toast setting (it will continue to darken after the toaster turns off)
• In a large sauce pan sauté the yellow tomatoes in the butter until they collapse and start to brown
• Season the butter and tomatoes with salt and pepper
• Plate the asparagus and top with the tomato mixture, goat cheese and pine nuts
• This combination is best warm to room temperature

The gold standard

I like to use the toaster oven for my pine nuts

Yellow cherry tomatoes are lower in acid and milder, but you can substitute red