Cooking Creatively! Asparagus Dipper

Asparagus
Cutter

It's asparagus season!  I love this time of year.  I grew up on a farm in eastern Washington.  The field around our house had asparagus in it before I was born.  But asparagus loves to grow and scatter its seed, so I was always sent out to pick the "volunteer" asparagus that grew along the edge of the field, as well as along the ditch bank.  A special cutter is used, and it can only be done by hand.  So far, there's no machine that can cut asparagus properly.  Take the cutter and place it at the edge of the soil and cut down at an angle.  That's how it's done!  One at a time.

In truth, however, I didn't come to love asparagus until adulthood, where I was forced to eat it by a friend who swore I'd like it because she didn't boil it to death.  She was right!  And a new addiction was born.  She roasted it in the oven, tossed with olive oil and herbs.

But my favorite way to have it is steamed for about 3 minutes, and then dipped into this delectable sauce.  The sauce is super simple: mayonnaise mixed with soy sauce!  Sounds strange at first, but just try it and you'll be addicted too!

The best mayo, however, is that made from scratch.  It takes about 3 minutes.  All you need is a blender, an egg, and some canola oil.  Okay, a few other things too.  I've been making this for so many years now that I can't remember where I got the recipe initially.

1 egg at room temperature
dash cayenne
1/2 t powdered mustard
1/2 t salt
1/4 C canola oil
***
1/2 C canola oil
***
3 T lemon juice
1/2 C canola oil

Put the first 5 ingredients in your blender and blend together.  Then, slowly, and I mean VERY slowly, drizzle in the next 1/2 C canola oil.  It will start to get very thick at this point.  You may have to stop and mix it up with a spatula.  Then add the lemon juice and final 1/2 C oil.  Blend again to make it all nice and thick, like mayonaisse consistency.

Voila!  Homemade mayo, sans chemicals!  It's so delicious, too.  It keeps for about a month in the fridge.

Let me know how you like this dip!  Oh, just add as much soy sauce as you want to get the flavor you want.  It really doesn't take very much.  I'd guess we use about 1 T soy sauce to 1/4 C mayo.

I can't wait to hear how you like it!

Manya Vee
ManyaVeeSelects.com