Asparagus Heavyweight In Nutrition Department

Given the usual poetic descriptions of asparagus, you might think it’s just a pretty face in the produce department.

Not so. Asparagus isn’t a nutrition lightweight.

Currently, there’s a lot of interest in folate, a B vitamin that is a possible preventive for neural-tube defects in babies. A serving of six asparagus spears supplies about two-thirds of the folate that adult women should have each day. That serving also has more than 10 percent of the vitamin C that adults need every day, and contributes some dietary fiber and iron as well.

However, all that would be moot if asparagus weren’t a versatile and delicious vegetable as well. If you want to know just how adaptable the spring stalk is, take a look at the recipe contest winners at the annual National Asparagus Festival in Shelby, Mich. The top contenders make everything from oat bran muffins to gelatin molds to vichyssoise using asparagus as a base. You could cook your way through the entire season and never repeat a dish.

I prefer to start my personal asparagus festival with Asparagus-Leek Risotto, which combines two of my favorite dishes, risotto and sauteed asparagus. Asparagus stalks, and not the tips, stand up better in this long-cooking recipe, so you might want to steam the tips and serve them separately for double the folate, double the pleasure.

Asparagus-Leek Risotto

4 teaspoons olive oil

1 medium leek, white part only, trimmed and diced

1 heaping cup asparagus pieces, cut into 1-inch lengths (about 1 small bunch)

1 cup arborio rice

2-1/2 to 3 cups hot chicken broth

1/2 cup grated dry Monterey Jack or Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese

Salt, freshly ground black pepper

Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add leek and asparagus and saute over medium-high heat 5 minutes. Stir in rice and cook 1 minute.

Reduce heat to medium-low. Add 1/2 cup chicken broth and cook, stirring occasionally, until broth almost evaporates. Add another 1/2 cup broth and cook, stirring occasionally, until broth almost evaporates. Repeat 3 more times. Taste rice; if creamy and tender, it’s done. Otherwise, add another 1/2 cup broth and repeat stirring and cooking.

When done, stir in cheeses and cook over lowest heat just until melted. Taste and salt accordingly. Add plenty of pepper. Serve immediately.

Yield: 2 servings.

Nutrition information per serving: 372 calories, 13.6 grams fat (33 percent fat calories), 19 grams fat, 42 grams carbohydrate, 21 milligrams cholesterol, 1,569 milligrams sodium (if using regular canned broth).