Braised Asparagus and Peas

For this recipe, I was inspired by Chrissy's recommendation I get away from my standard Canonical Asparagus (sauteed quickly over med-high heat in olive oil). She pointed out some recipes in Local Flavors that provided the starting point for the recipe. Also, our garden has started to provide us with some flavorful herbs and spring onions already. So, I put them all together. It is a very simple and versatile dish, the leeks, spring onions, and herbs make a simple braising liquid that is absolutely brimming with spring flavor. The vegetables to be braised were mainly opportunistic, but that's what was available at the tim, I think you could probably swap them out for anything else that's suitably tasty.

For the braising liquid:

• 2c water
• 3-4 spring onions, white parts and some green parts, chopped
• 2 medium leeks, white parts only, sliced and cleaned
• 1T fresh thyme, chopped
• 2 leaves fresh sage, chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste

Sautee everything in a largish pan, in 1T olive oil. Once things have softened up, add the water and bring to a simmer. Let it simmer for about 10 min, or until reduced by half.

Add in:

• 3/4 lb asparagus, cut up into 1" chunks
• 3/4 lb sugar snap peas

Simmer for about 6 minutes, until the asparagus is crisp, but mostly cooked. Add:

• 2c spinach
• (optional) 1 T butter melted, mixed with 1T flour, or an actual roux if you feel like it

The optional butter and flour thicken the sauce a little, making it more saucy. If I were fancy, I'd use a roux, but I just usually end up microwaving the butter in a little glass bowl until it's melted, adding in the flour, and mixing that in to the sauce. That keeps the flour from clumping, since it's hard to whisk the liquid with all that stuff in there.

Anyway, keep simmering for another minute or so, until the spinach is cooked and the asparagus is done.

Serves 4 as a side dish.