Roasted Asparagus

by Valerie on January 21, 2009 · 4 comments


Welcome to What’s Cooking Wednesday! As always, be sure to check out Shan’s blog, Tales of the Fairy Blogmother, to see the other yummy recipes.

Today’s recipe is an easy but yummy one – I am always trying to eat more vegetables, but that’s kind of hard in winter considering I pretty much buy only local produce and, well, it’s really cold these days. Plus, I go to the market on the weekends, and usually the grocery store as well, so by the end of the workweek I need a Plan B. There’s also no way that I will get back to the grocery store during the week.

My plan B is frozen veggies – and my latest favorite is thin asparagus. You can buy these nifty bags at Trader Joe’s – 12 oz of asparagus, perfect for two servings. They defrost in no time, such that if you forget to take them out of the freezer in the morning (which I usually do) you can just throw them in the microwave for a minute while you preheat the oven at 450. Check to see if the ends of the stems are woody, but I have to say that the TJ brand has me pleasantly surprised every time — usually I have to cut off an inch at the most. Then you coat the asparagus in 1-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, throw them in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes. You want to get the tips just a little brown and then pull them out. Then I just sprinkle with pepper and salt and am done. If I have the energy, I might squeeze half a lemon over them too.

And yes, you can do all sorts of toppings, like a parley/hard boiled egg gremolata, or broil the asparagus with some parmesan (see here for a good way), but when it’s a weeknight and already 8.30pm, my focus is just to get myself eating some vegetables, and the simple approach is best. The roasting makes the asparagus all yummy and delicious – but it’s neutral enough you can have it with eggs or chicken or a pork chop or even tuna out of a can. It just works.

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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }

1 FaithChick January 21, 2009 at 6:31 pm

I love asperagus!! But it is so hard to find this time of year where you don’t have to sell a kidney to afford it. Now I am really hungry for the roast chicken with roasted asperagus.

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2 Shan January 21, 2009 at 9:35 pm

Mmmmm. We do lots of asparagus in the summer on the bbq. Never thought to do it in the oven.

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3 JillEBean January 22, 2009 at 5:13 am

Yum! I love asparagus! I can’t wait until it’s in season again.

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4 City Girl January 22, 2009 at 2:18 pm

FaithChick – that’s totally why i went the frozen route :)

Shan – it gets charred on the edges just like if you grill it :)

JillEBeans – me too! Though the frozen ones are a nice substitute.

The Curator – ooops, good catch. I edited the text. Yes, extra virgin olive oil.

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