A is for Asparagus

As promised, Gerry will be chiming in more often this time 'round. This seemed the perfect place to start, because he kind of loves asparagus, as you shall see. I asked friends for input on cooking the asparagus, because I wasn't wild about it previously, and everyone said to roast it. Well, that didn't work out too well the last time we tried it, but we had another go. Now I'll turn it over to Gerry!

Asparagus--ah, asparagus! One of my favorite vegetables, and we got it the first week! Thank you, Myerov Farm, THANK YOU!

This is such a delicious food. I have even resorted to popping them into the microwave to heat them up quickly. Asparagus is elegant--it complements fish and poultry extremely well. Many people ruin it, in my opinion, by drowning it in Hollandaise sauce. There is nothing wrong with Hollandaise sauce, I just prefer my asparagus fairly plain.

Tonight, we put the asparagus on a baking sheet (on parchment paper-love parchment paper!) drizzled it with good olive oil, some freshly ground salt and pepper then baked them in the oven at 400 degrees for 8 minutes. The salt and pepper melded into the olive oil and the asparagus retained a nice crunch with a wonderful salty, peppery, olive oil flavor. Asparagus turns just a gorgeous, vibrant, deep green when it is cooked. And the color-green is my favorite color, ok?

Susan was a good sport about trying the asparagus. I think she preferred (I hesitate to use the term "liked") the stalks. I prefer the stalks as well, and have found that I especially prefer the thicker asparagus. Maybe because it's a bit more "forgiving" in the cooking process because it is thicker, I'm not sure, but I am certain that I prefer the nice fat ones!

And how about this: asparagus has only about 4 calories per stalk! Obviously, this does NOT include the olive oil, but olive oil is a very healthy fat as well as a great source of flavor. It's also a good source of vitamin C and potassium. More nutritional information may be found via the website of the Michigan Asparagus Advisory Board.