Roasted Asparagus

[fitfool]

Many years ago, in the early part of dating, I was visiting Michael's apartment for dinner. "Guess what I've got in the oven?" he asked, all smiles, as I came through the door. "Roasted asparagus!" he announced, beaming, without waiting for an answer.

I thoughtlessly answered, "Oh. I don't think I like asparagus." His face fell and I regretted not keeping my mouth shut since he had been clearly pleased and excited. I hastily added, "But I could be wrong. I haven't eaten it very often."

Boy was I ever wrong. This was the first recipe he ever taught me and it remains one of my favorites. Prep is speedy and so easy you can tell the kids to do this dish.

Roasted Asparagus

INGREDIENTS:
1 bunch asparagus
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
Mix of herbs (thyme, basil, oregano) (easy on the thyme)
Cooking spray

INSTRUCTIONS:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Snap off and discard tough ends of asparagus.
Pour a little olive oil into baking pan (with high sides).
Put asparagus in pan and toss to coat with oil.
Add herbs, salt, and pepper and toss again to coat.
Bake until done. (not a lot of time...maybe 5-10 minutes.)

The asparagus should be a bright, pleasing green and it should be easily pierced with a fork. Don't roast it too long though...it'll end up looking all shriveled and sad.

Thread in vegrecipes

Comments

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Oh I was such a picky eater. I still dislike dill and sour pickles but those sweet gherkins are awesome (even if real pickle fans consider them an abomination). And I like honey mustard but yellow and brown mustard are still pretty hard for me to take. Must've been nice to not have to beg you to eat when you were a kid :)

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

ah...I had wondered when the season was. I'm definitely looking forward to less expensive asparagus too!

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

no problem...thanks for reading!

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Hooray...I hope you like it when you try it out.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

*laugh* Well I hope to hear that you tried cooking this and loved it soon then. Check out the two threads for some other quick asparagus ideas too...the roasted leek and asparagus sounds really good.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I didn't do anything special with the mushrooms. Just sauteed the onions for a while and then tossed in sliced crimini mushrooms and sauteed them until they gave up some moisture and looked done.

Re: Our asparagus season

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Asparagus growing all over the place? I'm jealous too! The omelet idea sounds delicious.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'm doing pretty well overall.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

You can't just stop talking after sentence like that...now you're obligated to tell the story!

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Oooh...I'll want to give this a try too. Thanks!

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Yay for asparagus season! Maybe that means it'll start showing up on sale here too.

[simply-hope.livejournal.com]

but i must know what else is on that plate
yumy....mushroom?ness

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

I haven't written it up yet but the other dish is chicken marsala with prosciutto. And yes...it was yummy :)

[imbue-myblue.livejournal.com]

I was the kid who asked for another helping of green beans when presented with my birthday cake. ;) There was certainly no begging going on.

[sarahxiong.livejournal.com]

AGREED

Now this

[gracehatter.livejournal.com]

I have to try!

Re: Our asparagus season

[gracehatter.livejournal.com]

We moved here when our first born ws a baby and a springtime ritual was born with my kids..ok, 22 & 24 years now, has always been a race to see who finds the first spears.

Re: Our asparagus season

[gracehatter.livejournal.com]

In Michigan it grows wild ALL over, especially along the highways and roadsides and it is a common sight to see cars pulled over and folks picking them, even on the interstate. Add the morel season which follows and co-exists with the spears and you are smack dab in the cradle of nature at it's finest.

[shoo.livejournal.com]

I'm craving an asparagus and onion frittata now...Mmmmmm

[balamuthia.livejournal.com]

What a gorgeous image, how did you get the rice to look like that?

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

*grin* One thing I like about all the comments is getting other great ideas of things to eat.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Thanks! To shape the rice, I packed the rice into a ramekin and then place a plate over the opening before flipping both of them together to drop the rice onto the plate.

Re: Our asparagus season

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Wild asparagus -and- wild morels! Yum. Actually, I'm not sure I've ever eaten a morel but I've heard people gush about them and noticed that they're expensive. What does asparagus look like? Does it push up out of the ground in clusters? Are there just individual stalks scattered about and then they bundled them together for sale?

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

I don't really follow the logic in that first one but ok. But the second story made me laugh....it -is- a pretty sensual texture :)