Carmela Soprano's Asparagus with Lemon and Anna Sultana's Greens

Sometimes it isn't the recipe so much as the ingredient that makes cooking an adventure.

My Ma never cooked asparagus when we were kids.

Neither had my husband's Mom.

Don't get me wrong.  Our mothers did give us green vegetables.  They knew how to keep us healthy.  But, their choice of greens was more along the lines of peas and spinach.  The peas were canned, the spinach was fresh.  Both were cooked and served with margarine.  We knew they weren't ice cream, so we just ate them as quickly as possible.

Carmela has 2 recipes for asparagus in Entertaining with The Sopranos.  On 10% Tuesday I decided to be adventurous and got a bunch.  I just turned 60.  This is as much excitement as I can handle.

Carmela's Asparagus with Lemon recipe makes enough for 12.  The dressing is 2 to 3 tablespoons of lemon juice and 2/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil whisked together, with a dash of salt and pepper.  Okay.  I made a batch.  I'll use the leftovers on other things.  

I set aside half of the asparagus for recipe #2 (Asparagus and Prosciutto Rolls) and cooked the rest according to Carmela's instructions. 

I drizzled the dressing over the asparagus and served them immediately, as per instructions.

What can I say?  

We knew they weren't ice cream, so we just ate them as quickly as possible.

Hope the other recipe is better.

Another recipe down.  Fifty-nine more to go.