If you would rather not hear about pee, well, too bad.
(No not really, if you don’t want to hear about pee, please just skip right on down to the recipe. If you do want to hear about pee, please continue!)
So. I don’t really eat a lot of asparagus. If I do, it’s usually in some mixed stir fry dish with about half a dozen other vegetables. But a couple of weekends ago, we were in Harris Farms and I saw this adorable bunch of baby asparagus (when you coo at baby vegetables, you know you’re clucky) and I had to have them. So we bought them, steamed them and had them as the sole vegetable with some steak.
That evening, I went to pee. I thought it smelled a little funky but didn’t think much of it. Just my luck, Panu wanted to use to bathroom right after me. He was in there for about 0.005 seconds when I hear this loud exclamation “oh my GOD did you fart or something?!”
Fart? Me? Of course not. Girls don’t fart, and if we did, they’d totally smell like strawberry cupcakes.
And then he peed. And holy shit, it was like a sulphur atom bomb had landed in our tiny little bathroom.
And people, this is how I learned that asparagus makes your pee stink. I now realise that there have been many a scientific paper written on this fact, too many to link to, but if you’re interested, just Google “why does asparagus make my pee stink” and you too can be an expert on the subject.
Anyway, after this little incident, Panu and I decided no more asparagus on its own. Or maybe, ever. In a cruel twist of fate (ok not really, I am very appreciative of all things sent to me), two days later, the Australian Asparagus Council sends me a big box of you’ll never guess what. Asparagus!
Oh, Murphy.
Well, it wasn’t all bad. We had guests coming over for dinner on Sunday night, and I was cooking a big pot of lamb tava (Cypriot slow cooked lamb, Panu’s all time favourite). I was wondering what side would go appropriately. I wanted something warm (not a salad) but not too heavy (not cauliflower bake, which was a close winner).
So when the asparagus showed up on my doorstep, it was just all too easy: grilled asparagus with shaved parmesan. Super easy and incredibly delicious:
And totally worth it to have stinky pee again. In fact, so worth it that I’ve found a few uses for left over grilled asparagus, like my tomato, avocado, asparagus and parmesan lunch, served on a piece of roti. SO. YUM.
Well, asparagus is in season now, so check out these recipes.
| Grilled asparagus with shaved parmesan |
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| 3-4 large bunches of asparagus Olive oil A block of parmesan (shaved), or a pack of pre-shaved parmesan Cracked pepper and salt to taste |
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| Serves 4 as a side dish. |