Asparagus with Cashews and Ginger
The asparagus has been beautiful this spring. Farmer John sent me some of his organic green and purple asparagus. I usually just grill it and serve with a squeeze of lemon. If you haven’t tried grilled asparagus yet you are really missing something special (look it up under asparagus in this blog). Anyway, this time I wanted to spice things up a bit. A little spicy, a little nutty and a little bit sweet; it will wake up your taste buds!
Asparagus with Cashews and Ginger
1 Tablespoon canola oil
1 broken dried cayenne
1 ½ pounds asparagus cleaned, trimmed and broken in 1” pieces
1/3 cup cashews
½ chopped red bell pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons minced ginger root
1 tablespoon soy sauce- Gluten Free-substitute Tamari 100% soy
1 Tablespoon seasoned rice vinegar
½ teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoon water
Heat a wok or a sauté pan over medium-high heat until hot. Add oil, broken cayenne and asparagus. Sauté until asparagus is charred brown in spots. Remove and set aside.
Add cashews, bell pepper, garlic and ginger root to hot pan; continue tossing until cashew are toasted and the ginger and garlic are very fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Add asparagus and toss.
In a small bowl mix soy sauce or Tamari for gluten free, rice vinegar, sugar and water. Add to the asparagus and cashew mixture and toss constantly until coated and mixture thickens slightly. This will take less than a minute.
Remove from heat and serve immediately. Serves 4-6 as a side dish. This would also be yummy served over brown rice.
