This is more of a tip than a recipe for cooking fresh asparagus. My friend, Sally, showed me how to easily cook this side dish for any meal. If you haven't liked asparagus in the past because canned asparagus is too mushy and fresh asparagus can be hard and stringy - you should give it one more try!Take a bunch of asparagus and wash in cold water. Snap the thick ends off and discard. Take a long sheet of aluminum foil and place it on top of a cookie sheet. Fold the ends of the foil up so that liquid will not be able to escape. Lay the asparagus flat on the foil and salt and pepper liberally. Then either drizzle with olive oil or place thin slices of butter around the asparagus. Cook at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes depending on how thick the stalks are.
For a slight variation, you can marinate the asparagus in the olive oil and salt/pepper then cook them on a grill pan.
I make them this way all the time now - because I learned it from you! From experience, I'd also say that thinner asparagus only take a maximum of 15 minutes.
ReplyDeleteKatie