Pasco, MO: Creative asparagus dishes take center stage at Food Truck Friday

Shrimp linguine with asparagus from Backyard Grub Ty Beaver Tri-City Herald

By TY Beaver  |  Tri-City Herald

Between the Buns made a beautiful looking  dog with an equally cool name: The Back Pain,  an homage to the hard work that goes  into harvesting asparagus.  Ty Beaver Tri-City Herald
Between the Buns made a beautiful looking dog with an equally cool name:
The Back Pain, an homage to the hard work that goes into harvesting
asparagus. Ty Beaver Tri-City Herald

Ever thought of putting asparagus on your hot dog? How about in pasta or fried rice? Or even in a sweet pastry with cream cheese frosting?

Too bad if you didn’t. Some of those are award-winning ideas.

Seven food trucks participated in the May 27 asparagus contest at Pasco’s Food Truck Friday, crafting special dishes using asparagus as a component.

The contest was the culmination of a monthlong collaboration between the Pasco Specialty Kitchen and the Washington Asparagus Commission, which are seeking to raise the profile of the slender green spears grown in the region.

I joined two other judges to sample the entries, though we sadly didn’t make it in time to one food truck before they ran out. That left us with six entries to try.

I was skeptical of how the vendors were going to pull it off. I’m a fan of asparagus, but I don’t know of any other ways to prepare it than simply oven roasting it with some salt, pepper and butter or oil.

The Asparagus Roll from Two Chicks Baking  Co. was reminiscent of zucchini bread and earned the  Most Creative Asparagus Dish award.  Ty Beaver Tri-City Herald
The Asparagus Roll from Two Chicks Baking Co.
was reminiscent of zucchini bread and earned
Most Creative Asparagus Dish award.
Ty Beaver Tri-City Herald

Each vendor crafted a dish that was delicious. The bacon-wrapped asparagus spear that accompanied the shrimp linguine from Backyard Grub was great, and Fresh Out The Box brought its consistently strong game to its Pine-aragus fried rice.

Jiggy’s Bacon Asparagus Wheel was a lot  of cheesy goodness.  Ty Beaver Tri-City Herald
Jiggy’s Bacon Asparagus Wheel was a lot of 
cheesy goodness. Ty Beaver Tri-City Herald

Jiggy’s Bacon Asparagus Wheel was a lot of cheesy goodness. And Between the Buns made a beautiful looking dog with an equally cool name: The Back Pain, a homage to the hard work that goes into harvesting asparagus.

Doggie Style Gourmet featured the Green  Machine Dog with an asparagus slaw that  earned the Judge’s  Choice award. Ty Beaver Tri-City Herald
Doggie Style Gourmet featured the Green
Machine Dog with an asparagus slaw that 
earned the Judge’s Choice award.
Ty Beaver Tri-City Herald

Doggie Style Gourmet, a newcomer to Food Truck Friday, was the unanimous favorite with the judges. Its Green Machine Dog had an asparagus slaw of peeled asparagus stalks, a method we found delivered the most asparagus flavor in every bite. Their creation earned them the Judge’s Choice award.

But it was Two Chicks Baking Co. that surprised us. I could never begin to think how to incorporate asparagus into a sweet pastry, but they more than succeeded.

The Asparagus Roll is likely reminiscent of zucchini bread, but you see the bits of asparagus in there, and while the overwhelming sweetness of the bread muted that flavor, it was an ingenious way to incorporate the vegetable, earning them the Most Creative Asparagus Dish award.

Fresh Out The Box features its  Pine-aragus fried rice.  Ty Beaver Tri-City Herald
Fresh Out The Box features its Pine-aragus
fried rice. Ty Beaver Tri-City Herald

Though asparagus may not be a regular item on the menu, Food Truck Friday continues from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. through the summer at the Pasco Farmers Market at Columbia Street and Fourth Avenue.

Shrimp linguine with asparagus from Backyard  Grub Ty Beaver Tri-City Herald
Shrimp linguine with asparagus from Backyard
Grub Ty Beaver Tri-City Herald

http://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/article80891637.html