Charred Asparagus With Miso Béarnaise Sauce Recipe (2024)

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  • Recipes By Ingredients
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A touch of miso and a screaming-hot cast iron pan spruce up these classic steakhouse accoutrements.

By

Sasha Marx

Charred Asparagus With Miso Béarnaise Sauce Recipe (1)

Sasha Marx

Senior Culinary Editor

Sasha is a senior culinary editor at Serious Eats. He has over a decade of professional cooking experience, having worked his way up through a number of highly regarded and award-winning restaurant kitchens, followed by years spent in test kitchens for food publications.

Learn about Serious Eats'Editorial Process

Updated March 11, 2021

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Charred Asparagus With Miso Béarnaise Sauce Recipe (2)

Why It Works

  • A small amount of miso lends savory depth to classic béarnaise sauce that complements the grassiness of spring asparagus.
  • Using an immersion blender to blend the béarnaise creates a strong emulsion.
  • Cooking asparagus most of the way in a dry cast iron pan cuts down on unwanted smoke in the kitchen. A finishing addition of oil quickly blisters the spears and helps seasoning stick to them.

For an easy steak dinner side dish, char asparagus in the time it takes for your rib-eye to rest. Drizzle them both with a jazzed-up béarnaise that gets an umami boost from white miso. Why drop big bucks at a stuffy steakhouse when you can live large at home? No jacket required.

Asparagus Goes Deluxe With Miso Béarnaise

Recipe Details

Charred Asparagus With Miso Béarnaise Sauce Recipe

Active25 mins

Total40 mins

Serves4 servings

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup (120ml) drywhite wine

  • 1/4 cup (60ml)white wine vinegar

  • 1 large shallot (30g), sliced thin

  • 3 sprigs tarragon, leaves finely minced, stems reserved separately

  • 1/2 teaspoon (2g) whole black peppercorns

  • 2 large egg yolks (36g)

  • 1 tablespoon (20g) whitemiso

  • 12 tablespoons (168g)unsalted butter

  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

  • 1 pound (450g) asparagus, woody ends trimmed

  • 1 tablespoon (15ml) vegetable oil, divided

Directions

  1. In a small saucepan, combine wine, vinegar, shallots, tarragon stems, and black peppercorns, and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Adjust heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook until reduced to about 1 1/2 tablespoons of liquid, 10 to 12 minutes. Carefully strain liquid through a fine-mesh strainer into a small bowl, pressing on the solids with the back of a spoon to extract as much liquid as possible. Let mixture cool slightly.

  2. In a tall-sided cup that barely fits the head of an immersion blender, combine egg yolks, miso, and the wine-vinegar reduction. Using an immersion blender. Blend mixture until well-combined, about 30 seconds.

  3. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, melt butter over high heat, swirling constantly, until foaming subsides. Transfer butter to a 1-cup liquid measuring cup. Heat a large cast iron skillet over high heat.

  4. Place head of immersion blender into the bottom of the cup and turn it on. With the blender constantly running, slowly pour hot butter into cup in a thin and steady stream. Continue blending, raising and lowering blender head slightly to fully emulsify butter with the egg yolk mixture. Sauce should be thick and creamy, able to coat a spoon but still flow off of it. If it is too thick, whisk in a small amount of water to thin it out. Stir in minced tarragon and season to taste with salt. Transfer to a small lidded pot and keep in a warm place for up to 1 hour before serving. Béarnaise cannot be cooled and reheated.

  5. Add half of the asparagus to the preheated cast iron skillet and arrange in a single layer. Cook, turning occasionally, until spears are lightly charred all over and just cooked through, 4 to 6 minutes for thin spears, 5 to 8 minutes for thick spears. Carefully add half of the vegetable oil to the skillet, toss to coat asparagus with oil, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer asparagus to a warmed serving plate. Repeat with remaining asparagus and vegetable oil. Serve immediately, passing béarnaise sauce at the table.

Special equipment

Immersion blender, Cast iron skillet

Make-Ahead and Storage

This dish is best enjoyed immediately. The béarnaise sauce can be made and kept warm for up to 1 hour before serving.

This Recipe Appears In

  • Asparagus Goes Deluxe With Miso Béarnaise
  • Recipes By Ingredients
  • French
  • Vegetarian Sides
  • Stovetop Vegetables
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
413Calories
40g Fat
7g Carbs
5g Protein

×

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4
Amount per serving
Calories413
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 40g52%
Saturated Fat 22g112%
Cholesterol 188mg63%
Sodium 290mg13%
Total Carbohydrate 7g3%
Dietary Fiber 3g9%
Total Sugars 2g
Protein 5g
Vitamin C 9mg45%
Calcium 59mg5%
Iron 2mg9%
Potassium 305mg6%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

Charred Asparagus With Miso Béarnaise Sauce Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What's the difference between bearnaise and hollandaise sauce? ›

It's what happens next that sets them apart: Hollandaise gets its acidity from lemon juice (sometimes vinegar) and is usually seasoned with salt, white pepper, and cayenne pepper. Béarnaise, meanwhile, builds upon hollandaise with white wine vinegar, shallots, tarragon, and other fresh herbs.

Why is my asparagus tough after cooking? ›

Asparagus contains an enzyme that creates a woody compound called "lignin," at the end of each spear. Lignin is not softened by heat, so it remains fibrous and tough after cooking. To eliminate lignin, snap (don't cut) the end of each spear just before cooking.

How does Martha Stewart roast asparagus? ›

Directions
  1. Preheat oven and place asparagus on baking sheet: Preheat oven to 425°F. ...
  2. Roast: Roast until tender, 18 to 20 minutes, then transfer to a platter.
  3. Cook panko with butter: ...
  4. Add lemon juice and zest to breadcrumbs: ...
  5. Add breadcrumbs to asapargus and serve:
May 3, 2024

What makes asparagus soggy? ›

If your roasted asparagus is soggy, you may have overcooked it. In a hot oven at 425 degrees, asparagus only needs to roast for about 10 minutes—any longer and it can become limp and soggy. You should also be sure to pat the asparagus dry and spread them out into a single layer before roasting.

What does bearnaise sauce taste like? ›

Buttery, silky with the enigmatic flavour of tarragon and a sharp kick of vinegar, bearnaise is arguably the most elegant sauce to have emerged from the French kitchen.

What do you eat bearnaise sauce with? ›

Béarnaise sauce is commonly paired with grilled fish or steak, but it's just as delicious on roasted vegetables or eggs Benedict. Spoon this silky, herby sauce over roasted asparagus, steamed broccoli, or grilled mushrooms for a sophisticated dinner party side.

When should you not eat asparagus? ›

By the time the tips turn black, you'll notice they're completely mushy and probably smell a little funky, too. If your asparagus is slimy or sticky, feels mushy and soft, smells foul or has visible signs of mold, it's time to toss it.

Why shouldn't you snap ends off asparagus? ›

The truth is that the bend-and-snap method can actually waste delicious asparagus. Where a stalk breaks depends on the overall thickness of the stalk (skinny stalks are more flexible), how you bend it, and even how fresh the asparagus is (super-fresh asparagus tends to be more rigid).

How do you cook asparagus Rachael Ray? ›

Pile asparagus onto a baking sheet. Combine lemon, shallot, extra-virgin olive oil and tarragon. Pour the dressing over the asparagus and turn to coat spears in fat. Season the asparagus with salt and pepper and roast 15 to 17 minutes at 375 degrees F.

What cooking method is best for asparagus? ›

Roasting asparagus is one of the easiest ways to cook this vegetable. Simply drizzle with olive oil and pop in the oven. Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Snap any woody tips off the asparagus where they naturally break apart.

Why do you soak asparagus in water? ›

Soak the asparagus in water for 5-10 minutes to draw out sand lodged in the tips. Swoosh them around a few times to unsettle grit.

What takes the bitterness out of asparagus? ›

The added step in those recipes was to put a piece of bread or a "stale roll" into the water that the asparagus is being boiled in. After doing some investigation with green and white asparagus, The Takeout confirmed that the boiled-with-bread asparagus did indeed have a less bitter taste.

Is béarnaise a substitute for hollandaise? ›

Béarnaise sauce was introduced later, and is a derivative of hollandaise. This sauce differs from hollandaise in the ingredients used, as well as the food it's served with.

Why is it called Oscar style? ›

In 1897, a dish consisting of sautéed veal cutlets, crabmeat, béarnaise sauce, and a garnish of two asparagus spears was served for the very first time. It was named after King Oscar II of Sweden, who was quite fond of those particular ingredients.

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