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Roasted Asparagus with Fresh Parmesan Cheese

I love asparagus. I love fresh, simple food. I love Farmer’s Markets.

These are just a few of my favorite things.

I love to take advantage of the fresh, seasonal food that I have at my finger tips by shopping at all the local Farmer’s Markets. It’s not only delicious but also a soul satisfying adventure. The best food I’ve ever tasted is…

Fresh.

Seasonal.

Simple.

Sometimes I think that we all get too caught up in thinking that cooking is too complicated and laborious. Well, I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be. Actually, it shouldn’t be.  I love the cooking experience that satisfies the soul as well as the appetite.

Last weekend I ventured off to the Worthington Farmer’s Market, a local Farmer’s Market that I frequent on a regular basis.  I was on the look out for some yummy, fresh, simple produce. And boy let me tell you, I wasn’t disappointed!  Every season has so many lovely fruits to bear and I just couldn’t walk away without grabbing up some gorgeous asparagus!

Have you ever tried roasting asparagus? It is divine! The flavors just burst! And the outside becomes caramelized and it makes for a succulent side dish that you will make over and over, time and time again.

These are the simple ingredients-

  • Fresh asparagus
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • Parmesan cheese
  • course salt & pepper

First you want to wash the asparagus in cold water.

Next make sure to cut off the bottom 1-2 inches of the stalks (maybe less depending on the length of the stalks). The bottoms are very fibrous, not tender and yummy like the rest of the stalk.

In addition to cutting off the bottoms, I have found that peeling the bottoms of each stalk makes the entire asparagus experience perfection! Who wants to bite into a fibrous piece of asparagus? Yuck-o. Not me that’s who, but if you don’t mind than go ahead a skip this step.

Place the asparagus on a cookie sheet, and just douse the daylights out of the asparagus with some good extra virgin olive oil!  Don’t be shy now, the olive oil helps the asparagus to get all crispy and caramelized on the outside!

Next sprinkle a few  pinches of course salt & pepper.

*Note, I’m fully aware that my baking sheets have been very loved. Perhaps if My Yanni is reading this he will make a mental note to surprise with more sometime. It’s just a thought.

Now place the asparagus into a 400° for 15-20 minutes. I turned mine over after 15 minutes and cooked for 10 minutes longer, I like my asparagus nice and crispy on the outside!

And oh my stars, let me just tell you how fabulous my kitchen smells at this very minute! I can hardly wait to sink my teeth into those crispy, caramelized on the outside, all tender and succulent on the inside, spears of deliciousness.

But can you guess what I’m going to do next?

It gets even better.

If you can imagine that.

Pick up your wedge of Parmesan cheese and grate it all over the pipping hot asparagus.

Oh. My. Heaven.

Doesn’t that just look like a celebration?

Well let me tell you it is!

I said it before and I’ll say it again.

I love asparagus. I love fresh, simple food. I love Farmer’s Markets.

These are just a few of my favorite things that I hope you will enjoy too.

Bon Appetit!

Wenderly

Wenderly

Married my soulmate. Mama of 2. Love to inspire. Can't help but to relish in all things beautiful inside & out. Join me in Savoring the Art of Living.

8 Comments

  1. Um..yes. 1-800-YUMM-OOO?!!!/WENDERLY?
    I would like to order some asparagus, sweet potatoes and turkey burgers (that I don’t think you posted?) for my dinner tonight…oh, and could you throw in a few scones?….and if it’s not too much to ask, could you also have the delivery boy (a very fit, single man I hope), add in your spa treatment from Mother’s Day and help me put the olive oil in my hair while he’s feeding me grapes?! 45min and you’ll send some fresh cut peonies too? Fabulous!! Thank you sooo much! (Who do I write the check out to?)

  2. This is my absolute favorite way to cook asparagus. I always look forward to the first tender stalks in the Spring so that I can pop them in the oven just like this. I could eat the whole baking sheet full in one sitting.

  3. I’ll have to give this a try – I’ve done basically the same thing in a skillet with olive oil, sea salt and course pepper but have not tried the cheese – I’ll have to give that a go.

  4. I usually eat most of our asparagus before it even hits the pan … this recipe might convince me to be patient & actually get it cooked first!

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