asparagi
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Senses: examples: text: The palmsʳ have, in the interior structure of their trunks, no analogy with other trees. In habit and in structure they resemble the ferns, in their blossom the grasses, and the asparagi in their mode of fructification.
ref: 1822, M. Malte-Brun, Universal Geography, or a Description of All the Parts of the World, volume III, page 409:
text: “Asparagus. The first sprigs of Herbs before unfolded unto leaves, and the youngest and tenderest branches that are eatable, are called Asparagus.” Miller’s Gardener’s Dictionary.—See also Suidas in Voce, Galenus de Alim. Facult. Humelbergius, ap. Apul. de Med. Hist. c. 84. Our author’s account of the Asparagi is abridged from Galen. He remarks, that the young shoots of the cabbage, called Cymæ, are particularly tender. Apicius directs to prepare them with cumin, salt, old wine, and oil; to which pepper, borage, and the like may be addded. / On the Asparagi, see Athenæus, Deipn. lib. ii. / The Plant now commonly known by the name of Asparagus or Sparrow-grass, is said by Simeon Seth to be so nutritious, that it deserves to hold an intermediate place between pot-herbs and flesh.
ref: 1834, “Commentary on the First Book”, in Adams, Francis, transl., The Medical Works of Paulus Ægineta, the Greek Physician, volume I, LXXV.—on asparagi, or young shoots., page 98:
text: I believe I can affirm without exaggeration that surrealism has permitted painting to outdistance with seven-league boots the three apples of Renoir, the four asparagi of Manet, the little chocolate women of Derain and the tobacco packets of the cubists, to see opening before it a field of vision limited only by the capacity for irritability of the mental faculties.
ref: 1940, New Directions in Prose and Poetry, volume 5, page 513:
text: The menu we settled on was this: / smoked salmon Greek pizzas / potato soup with tomato and basil / spinach-ricotta roulade with Criminey! sauce / baby asparagi with pine nuts & lemon / crepes with raspberries and chocolate / […] Eric took charge of dressing the asparagi, since I was hip-deep in roulade action, and I'm not sure exactly what he did with them.
ref: 1997 May 5, Meg Worley, “limp *Greens*!”, in rec.food.cooking (Usenet), message-ID <5klp1e$62p@Steam.Stanford.EDU>:
text: Then we paid an exhorbitant^([sic]) amount of money for some of the first asparagi of the season so we could treat ourselves when we went home. […] We had the asparagi for lunch with a buttery sauce with just a bit of lemon squeezed into it.
ref: 1998 August 31, David Herkt, “Re: Just Another Saturday Morning.”, in nz.soc.queer (Usenet), message-ID <35E9B7BD.4B75@ihug.co.nz>:
text: Here's a new update. My husband sneaked out after me last evening and covered the asparagus (which we just planted last weekend, so it didn't have any shoots yet) after i thought we had decided not to cover them. But he only had a short tarp, so he only covered half of them. He just emailed me to tell me that he didn't uncover them until noon, and when he did, the asparagus under the tarp all had little asparagi shoots, but the uncovered did not have any shoots. Guess we created a little greenhouse! Hope the asparagi babies make it through tonight!
ref: 2001 April 18, Caroline Szymeczek-Seay, “Re: reemay was Re: Freeze in the Triangle 4/18 & 19”, in triangle.gardens (Usenet), message-ID <3ADDF6C9.76457AD3@med.unc.edu>:
text: > Uh-oh, hope my wife doesn't find out someone else goes for this. / > I've been telling her for years it's an Abomination Before God. / > HFIH. White rice with roast beef gravy ladled over it. Roast beef / > included, of course. Or with some kind of 12-alarm hot Thai dish, / > maybe beef and asparagus. / […] / / I agree with all this stuff except the asparagi. You can keep that with all yer other GAWDless heathen Dillards-esque weirdo FSU behavior patterns.
ref: 2001 August 20, Clockwork Orange, “Re: WOT RAM food poll...”, in rec.arts.mystery (Usenet), message-ID <Xns9103B982FF9C8Clockwork@65.24.2.12>:
text: For the most savvy result, you should tie the asparagi together so as to be able to place them upright in a pan.
ref: 2002 May 13, eRwin, “Re: Asparagus...”, in alt.cooking-chat (Usenet), message-ID <1021294583.883120@seven.kulnet.kuleuven.ac.be>:
text: I concur with all the bread-suggesters, but for the sake of variety: / asparagus, steamed and tossed with lemon juice and sauteed onions and garlic, makes a great side dish for some thin soups, such as the trivial pesto, bean and pasta soup I had tonight. Ate the pasta, then dipped the asparagi in the green broth.
ref: 2002 June 8, Natarajan Krishnaswami, “Re: What goes with soup?”, in rec.food.veg.cooking (Usenet), message-ID <ads1lc$mb1$1@eeyore.INS.cwru.edu>:
text: In my case there were 4 ears of corn, a quarter pound of deli ham (sliced thin), half a red onion, a half pound of once fresh asparagi, and a potato. […] Next, slice up the ham, red onion, and asparagi, and add them to the growing pile. Add oregano and black pepper to taste. Put the skillet over medium heat and stir this mess around until the asparagi start to get soft.
ref: 2003 April 29, Bob Gidding, “Gotta Love That Old Camp Cookin'”, in rec.outdoors.rv-travel (Usenet), message-ID <l24uav847gbc9kal0d6o843768146sa53i@4ax.com>:
text: >I love asparagus and have always laid them sideways in a skillet with about / >an inch of boiling water. I've seen several companies selling speciality / >asparagus steamer pots (tall, narrow, with a wire insert). Anyone have / >experience with them? Do they make asparagus taste better? / > / Al, it really doesn't make the asparagi (you can come back now carol) taste any better.
ref: 2005 June 20, day dreamer@dream .com@, “Re: Why do you need an asparagus pot ?”, in rec.food.cooking (Usenet), message-ID <irhcb191185nriv1tta214kt4upsgbaqn6@4ax.com>:
text: At a cooking demonstration I went to a chef peeled the bottom half of the "asparagi" with a potato peeler rather than breaking off the end which he claimed was a real waste and that only the outer layer was what you really wanted to get rid of.
ref: 2002 December 21, Rob, “Re: Asparagus was Re: Marmite was Re: Traditional East London Pie And Mash???”, in rec.food.cooking (Usenet), message-ID <ur290v0o7fsoec3lv4u8v1c103v59b2b9v@4ax.com>:
text: FBG 89. Just before snack 86. Six crackers (supposedly 12 Gms carbs), half with Brie, half with Limburger. One hour PP BG 110. Before dinner BG 77. Bacon wrapped asparagus (Four with two asparagi each). One hour PP BG 86. I'll drink to that!
ref: 2008 June 11, Nick Cramer, “A good day for me”, in alt.food.diabetic (Usenet), message-ID <20080611015222.808$TZ@newsreader.com>:
text: > I don't like spinach but asparagus is inspired. Wouldn't you have to / > blanch the asparagus? I don't think it would cook enough. / If I undesrtood^([sic]) correctly Jim has in mind, the bread will be first cooked and then filled. If so yes, it's better to give a blanching to the asparagi.
ref: 2011 April 28, ViLco, “Re: Ham+SwissChees+^([sic]) ?? vegetable.”, in rec.food.cooking (Usenet), message-ID <ipbe3p$7ba$1@dont-email.me>:
text: A broad quarter-moon of home fries framed one side of the plate, while four locally-processed and lovingly cooked sausages stretched around the other. In the middle, further bracketed by smiling melon slices and a varicolored field of berries, towered a column of English muffin, home-cured ham, drooling farm-fresh eggs, and a thick, suspended puddle of Béarnaise, topped by a quasi-religious cross of two asparagi, draped just so.
ref: 2011 November, Barry Burnett, “11. Counting Calories - or - Hypocaloric Dropsy”, in How To Live Forever, The Fool Press:
text: First scrape the white part of the asparagi with a knife and cut off the hard part. The water should be boiling strongly (bubbling) before the asparagi are placed in it. Salt the water before placing the asparagi in it to keep them green. When the asparagi bend their heads, they are done.
ref: a. 2011, “282—Asparagi”, in Vintage Cookery Books: Italian Style Vegetable Dishes: A Selection of Classic and Authentic Italian Recipes, Read Books Ltd.:
text: You never know how people are going to eat, do you, if they’re going to be the sort to pick the food out of their molars in front of you, or be fussy about how to hold a fork. Sara and I were on the same page—tastefully relaxed and prone to treat asparagus as finger food. Although she didn’t especially go for my using two asparagi as antennae to demonstrate I was an alien.
ref: 2015 August, Nicole Galland, Stepdog: A Novel, HarperCollins:
glosses: plural of asparagus