Gordon Ramsay’s Recipe for Sautéed Asparagus

Asparagus are a crunchy, woody spring vegetable. Asparagus are often steamed or boiled, leaving all of their flavor in the cooking liquid. Chef Gordon Ramsay prefers to “starve them of water” to intensify their flavor. He blisters them in a hot cast-iron pan and leaves the flavorful skins intact. The woody stems still need to be removed through the process of “feeling for the asparagus.”

Gordon likes the contrast between white and green asparagus in this dish. The white is more naturally sweet with a creamy texture and the green is more earthy and bright. But white asparagus has a very short season of seven to eight weeks; if you can’t find it, simply use all green asparagus.

Green asparagus is harvested from February to June in the US. It can sometimes be found year-round but the quality is not always as good. White asparagus is generally is found in the US from April to June. It is the same as green asparagus but grown without sunlight and the flavor is slightly sweeter. If you can’t find the white variety, use all green.

Gordon serves his sautéed asparagus with a red wine poached egg, king trumpet mushrooms, and an asparagus purée. Learn how to make the complete dish here.

Trim the woody ends off all of the bunches of white and green asparagus and set aside for stock. Then cut about ½ inch’s worth of thin slices off the remaining asparagus starting from the trimmed end. Slice until both the white and green asparagus spears reach about 5 inches long. Reserve thin slices for asparagus purée.

Heat a large cast-iron pan over medium-high heat. Season the asparagus spears liberally with black pepper and lemon salt. Add olive oil into the hot pan and let it start to smoke. Add the asparagus spears in an even layer along with any remaining seasoning from the tray. Sauté for 90 seconds or until the green of the asparagus brightens and the white begins to char. Flip the spears, add the butter, and shake the pan so the butter can melt to the bottom of the pan. Let the butter brown and the asparagus spears char for another 90 seconds.

Deglaze the pan with vegetable stock. Turn off the heat and place a folded piece of aluminum foil on top of the asparagus to steam for 2 to 5 minutes. Check for doneness with the edge of your knife. If you feel resistance, let the asparagus simmer on low heat for another 2 minutes. If your knife slides through the asparagus fairly easy, remove from heat and reserve for plating.