Asparagus

I've never eaten asparagus until I moved to Kansas 6 years ago. There's a variety of picky eaters in my family. That's probably why I'd never had them before. The first time I had it was at Matt's parent's house. They served it with dinner or lunch or something like that. I had just moved here and I was nervous and didn't want to offend anyone so I gingerly took a few stalkes and I ate it. O.O It wasn't as bad as I probably imagined actually.

I tried cooking it shortly after Matt and I were married and let's just say it was one of those meals were your husband tries it and he says "Mmm" but doesn't eat the rest and then you try it and go "Eww! What was I thinking!?" Yeah it didn't turn out so well.

A few years later I tried again but this time I was determined to make it taste good. And everything tastes good soaked in butter right? Right? >.< So I pan fried it with like a half a cup of butter and some garlic because I like garlic. I thought it turned out okay this time but it was definitely very very buttery. I was pretty sure that probably ruined the point of having asparagus.

Then I started on this diet. Asparagus were on sale so I added them to our meals. This time though, I went to google and typed in "how to cook asparagus". I found a couple articles and recipes that all said the same thing. Roasting asparagus brings out it's best flavor. Huh. I never thought to roast it. I've boiled it, microwaved it, fried it but never roasted. And this recipe was simple. Oven to 425 degrees. Toss the asparagus in 2 tsp of olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread on a pan and put it on the top rack for 10 minutes, being sure to shuffle them at 5 minutes.

It was the most tasty asparagus I'd ever had (no offense Marty! ~_^). It actually tasted more along the lines of broccoli, which I love. And I didn't feel bad about what I cooked it with either! You can't go wrong with that small amount of olive oil (which was just to keep it from sticking to the pan) and it just had a little salt and pepper. No butter or cheese or sauces or mixing it up with my mashed potatoes so I'd eat it. Very tasty. So if you're going to cook asparagus to have as a side with dinner, definitely roast it!


P.S.
We had Spring Asparagus w/Pasta last night and it was rather tasty. It was more soup like than I expected when I read the recipe but still very good!