Roasted Asparagus

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.