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

Re: Our asparagus season

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

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

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.

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?

Re: Our asparagus season

[gracehatter.livejournal.com]

It looks exactly as it does in the store. Amazingly, the tips are not dirty at all, mainly because when it pushes through the earth the tips are still very tight (look at white asparagus next time you are at the market, those tips never spread because they are not exposed to the sun). The spears grow on what are called crowns and the number of spears it produces varies year to year, generally they produce 1 or two, but many produce 3-5. It is a very fast growing plant, you can pick in the morning and go back in the late afternoon on a very warm day and they may have grown an inch or so. Right now I am looking at an inch of snow and it is 24 degrees out...very unusual weather for this time in April but because the season shouldn't start for 3-4 weeks it should be ok. I'll post a pic or two when we're full blown into it AND of the Morels.