Grilled Asparagus with Herb Butter

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            FOOD FUNNY
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I don't know where the following account came from originally
because it has been around for a while. Thanks to Alan Withee for
sending it in.

My mother never let me help much in the kitchen. As a result, my
cooking ability was practically non-existent when I got married.
But, I did remember mother mentioning to her friends that she did
make cakes, pies and other things from scratch. So my first
priority after the honeymoon was to locate some scratch.

With mother's delicious cakes in mind, my first trip to the
supermarket was to buy some scratch. I found the aisle that read --
Baking Items. I spent a good 15 minutes looking at everything from
vegetable oil, sugar, flour and chocolate without seeing a sign of
scratch. I was sure it wouldn't be with the pickles or the meat. I
asked the clerk if they carried scratch. He looked at me funny and
finally said, "You'll have to go to the store on the corner."

When I got there, it turned out to be a feed store. I thought it
rather strange, but I decided cakes were food. "Do you have
scratch?" I asked the clerk. He asked me how much I wanted. I
suggested a pound or two. His reply was, "How many chickens do you
have? It only comes in 20 pound bags." I really didn't understand
why he mentioned chickens, but I had heard mother say she made
chicken casserole from scratch. So, I bought 20 pounds and hurried
home.

My next problem was to find a recipe calling for scratch. I went
through every single page of my lovely "Better Homes and Gardens"
Cookbook -- a wedding gift. I looked and looked for a recipe using
scratch. There I was with 20 pounds and no recipe.

When I opened the scratch, I had doubts that a beautiful, fluffy
cake would ever result from such a hard looking ingredient. I hoped
with the addition of liquids and heat the result would be
successful. I had no need to mention my problem to my new husband.
He had suggested very early in our marriage that he liked to cook
and would gladly take over anytime. One day he made a pie and when
I told him how good it was, he said that he made it from scratch.
That assured me that it could be done.

Being a new bride is scary and when I found out he made pies, cakes,
and even lemon pudding from scratch. Well, if he made all those
things from scratch, I was sure he had bought a 20 pound bag of
scratch also. But, I couldn't find where he stored it, and I
checked my supply. It was still full! At this point I was ready to
give up because all the people knew about scratch except me. I
decided to try a different approach. One day when my husband was
not doing anything, I said, "Honey, I wish you'd bake a cake." He
got out the flour, sugar, eggs, milk and shortening. But, not a
sign of scratch. I watched him blend it together, pour it into a
pan and slide it into the oven to bake. An hour later, as we were
eating the cake, I looked at him and smiled and said, "Honey, why
don't we raise a few chickens?"

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            TODAY'S RECIPE
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This simple recipe also works well with bell peppers, sliced summer
squash, eggplant, and green tomatoes.

Grilled Asparagus with Herb Butter

6 Tbs (90 ml) butter
1 Tbs (15 ml) finely chopped fresh tarragon, or 1 tsp (5 ml) dried
1 Tbs (15 ml) finely chopped fresh chives
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 1/2 - 2 lbs (675 - 900 g) asparagus, washed and trimmed

Combine the butter, tarragon, chives, salt, and pepper in a small
saucepan and heat over low heat until the butter is melted. Toss
the asparagus in the butter mixture and grill directly over hot
coals until the asparagus are tender, about 6 to 8 minutes. Return
the asparagus to the remaining butter mixture and toss to coat well.
Serves 4 to 6.
Received on Tue Jun 21 08:17:44 2005