asparagus leaves/flowers

[torakris]

I am not even really sure what these are called and I have never run across them before. I found this in the store today

the Japanese name calls them asparagus leaves, but they don't really have an asparagus-y smell...?

What are they and what is the best way to prepare them?

[snowangel]

A quick stir fry with a bit of garlic and some fish sauce?

[beccaboo]

They look like they're in the mustard family. One thing I might do is blanch them for a minute, then fry them on high heat with some salt and a couple of dried chiles, pressing them down into the pan to sort of singe them, and then at the last minute stirring in a water-and-arrowroot (I don't like cornstarch) slurry to make it all nice and glossy.

[torakris]

so are they really not asparagus?

[Pan]

That looks a lot like what's often called "Chinese broccoli" around here, except that the stems on this specimin look a little longer and thinner. Still, I may well have had that vegetable steamed with oyster sauce. Let us know if it's crunchy and just a bit bitter.

[torakris]

Looking at some Japanese sites it seems to be a variety of the Chinese pak choi called autumn rain. I then found this on google:

Flowering Pak Choi “Autumn Poem” – These can be found in delis and good supermarkets. After the central stalks are reaped, the plants produce many lateral branches giving you multiple harvests. The stalks, buds and leaves have a delightful, sweet asparagus like taste.

thus the name!

thanks for all the ideas.

[Wendy DeBord]

I was thrown off a little by the title of this thread. I have an asparugus patch in my garden and I couldn't describe it's growth as leaves/flowers. They (compared to the photo shown) look more sparse and fern-like (I believe theres an indoor plant called an asparagus fern and that's the most similar looking plant I can think of). They don't really flower but they do form seeds- I can't explain that- but the flowers must be so small that I don't notice them until they turn into seeds.

Anyway I'm glad to see you've resolved your question.

[jackal10]

Those look like a brassica; a bit like oil seed rape or a yellow version of purple sprouting broccoli.

Trim, slice, steam or stir fry or roast.

Asparagus is a six foot fern-like plant, sometimes used in flower arranging. Insignificant flowers, and small red berries. So far as I know its only the young shoots that are edible. The rest, although I don't think poisonous, is too woody to be eaten.

[helenjp]

Sakata seeds apparently crossed these two Chinese vegetables to create Autumn Poem.

(In Japanese, sai shin), in Chinese Cai xin (cai sin, cai shin). Brassica rapa L. var. parachinensis

(In Japanese, Kou-sai-tai) in Chinese, Hong cai tai (Hon tsai tai, Hong tsoi sum), Brassica rapa L. var. purpuraria

I remember seeing it a few years ago, but not recently. I guess they called it Autumn Poem to differentiate it from the spring harvested Japanese flowering rape, "Na no hana".

[ruthcooks]

This looks like a vegetable I used to buy in Nashville which went under two different names. Broccolini was one name, and the other was something very difficult to remember which started with Asp----as in asparagus. The vegetable tasted somewhat like a cross between broccoli and asparagus (better than the first and not as good as the second IMO).