I’m constantly on the search for easy, inspiring side dishes. When you are making use of fresh, locally sourced ingredients, it’s easy to avoid reaching for the bag of frozen corn as a quick accompaniment to your main course. That being said, I get extremely lazy sometimes. To the point where I don’t even want to boil a pot of water for anything or anyone. When I get a case of the doldrums and asparagus is in season, this is my answer to the big question of “What the hell am I going to eat with this?”
For you folks that don’t dig asparagus (like my hubby and sis for starters), you can use this exact same preparation to cook string beans and haricots verts. And also cherry tomatoes on the vine. All of which are gorgeous and couldn’t be simpler. There you go – 3 options for those days that you couldn’t possibly peel yourself off the couch to make anything involved.
Simple Roasted Asparagus
1 lb. of asparagus
1/4 c. of olive oil
2 pinches of kosher salt
1 pinch of black pepper
Preheat oven to 450°. Snap ends off asparagus spears (and save for stock for Cream of Asparagus Soup). Toss asparagus in olive oil, salt and pepper and spread out evenly over a flat baking sheet. Bake in the oven until crisp and tender (I know, an oxymoron) – about 10 minutes for thin asparagus (cigarette size) and 17 minutes for thick asparagus (cigar-sized).
Variations
If you want to brighten things up for the summertime, mix 2 tbs. of lemon zest and two tbs. of chopped parsley to make a gremolata. Top asparagus with the mixture and serve.
One thought on “Simple Roasted Asparagus”
Comments are closed.