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Monday, April 5, 2010

Item of the Month: Asparagus









I am writing the menu for the month of April and picked asparagus as the item of the month.  My school cafeteria has never served asparagus before.  It’s in season, abundant, and fairly inexpensive.  I’ve heard that asparagus is not a favorite among kids, but we shall see.   It will go in the salad bar as a cold dish this week for our last two lunch periods for middle and high school students.


I will toss the asparagus with oil, salt, and pepper before I put it in the oven.  Roasting it at 500 degrees for about ten minutes, the asparagus will be cooked through and maintain a nice bright green color on the salad bar if served the same day.   In a week, our kitchen will serve asparagus as a side dish on our main meal line.

6 comments:

  1. You may have to serve it more then once for the kids to catch on, they say 7 times for toddlers to like things maybe more for school age children. Good luck !!!

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  2. Awesome idea, Ali! I love it!!! Maybe try chopping it into a pasta salad on the salad bar. Kids cant resist pasta!

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  3. I don't like asparagus perhaps it's because whenever I eat it's mushy, plain, and boring just being steamed. I'm around the age of the kids you are serving and I would definatly give it a try!

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  4. I am a food service manager and have been trying to feed my kids real food over the last 10 years. My biggest evil is making my budget balance. I am also part of the School Lunch Program, this has allowed me more monies to do more things. But bottom line is, if I go red, I go out the door. But we are still trying. I am going to purchase some asparagus from my vendor and blanch it and toss it with pasta an Italian dressing. With some real chicken and tri colored peppers I think it will go over on my second line. Could be interesting to put it on my main line.
    We also serve some type of pizza each Friday-the best home made one dosen't qualigy since the flour is not enriched-but I can serve skim chocolage milk that has as much sugar as a can of soda.....something is wrong here!

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  5. My boys love asparagus for what it does coming out...that might work as a hook for a certain segment of the population....

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  6. Some kids like the flavor of asparagus but don't like the tips. So you could chop each piece into three and put it with pasta and see if the kids will eat some of the pieces.

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