Roasted Asparagus

Roasted Asparagus is one of the easiest vegetables to prepare. This recipe has only three ingredients – yes, including the salt! It’s the perfect dish to serve on the side when you want to focus on another, more complicated entree.

My favourite way to eat asparagus also happens to be the easiest way to cook it.

What to Serve with Roasted Asparagus

• steak
• pot roast
• roast chicken
• pork chops, or
• tourtiere.

We’ve tried a couple of times to grow our own asparagus. It takes patience. The plants take a few years to produce. Then, we’ve found that only two or three stalks are ready for picking at the same time. I guess we’d have to grow a lot of it to have even two full servings for a meal. Then, we would end up with much more asparagus than we really need.

So, I’ve decided that it’s a whole lot easier to just buy local asparagus when it’s in season. Each time I’m in the grocery store, and asparagus is $1.99 per pound, I’ll pick some up. Sometimes I include it in another recipe, but mostly I serve it as a side dish just like this.

At first, I thought that this recipe was too simple to bother sharing with you. I mean, it’s hardly even a recipe at all! But then, I thought how glad I am to have discovered simple roasted asparagus, and I realized that this is exactly what I should be sharing with you. It’s a quick, easy, nutritious, one-pot dish—the kind that just makes life better!

What are the benefits of asparagus?

According to Asparagus Ontario, asparagus is the leading natural source of folacin and glutathione. Folacin is the natural form of folic acid found in food.

In this Huffington Post article, Mark Hyman, MD, explains that glutathione is the master detoxifier and maestro of the immune system. So, it’s good to eat asparagus along with other sulfur-rich vegetables such as garlic, onions, cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower.

Do you have to wash asparagus before cooking?

Wash your asparagus carefully before cooking, as grains of sand can become lodged under the scales.

How do you know when asparagus goes bad?

As with other vegetables, asparagus is best when it’s fresh, but it will keep for a few days in the refrigerator if properly stored.

As soon as I get the asparagus home, I stand it in a sturdy pyrex measuring cup or flat-bottomed pitcher with the base of each stalk immersed in a little water. Then, I loosely cover it all with the plastic produce bag from the store and put it into the refrigerator to use within a couple of days.

You’ll know your asparagus is going bad if the tips begin to get dark and mushy. If this is just starting to happen, you might be able to cut off the tips and still use the rest right away.

If however, your asparagus has mould on it, you’ll need to throw it out.

Roasted Asparagus

Yield: 4 servings

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Roasted asparagus can be prepared quickly and easily in the oven. I also happen to think that this is the best tasting way to cook this healthful vegetable.

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Ingredients

• 1 pound fresh asparagus
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.
2. Wash asparagus breaking off the tough woody base from each stalk. Spread out on a baking sheet.
3. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt, and toss together.
4. Roast for 10 minutes and serve hot.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1/4 pound
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 55 Total Fat: 4g Saturated Fat: 1g Trans Fat: 0g Unsaturated Fat: 3g Cholesterol: 0mg Sodium: 148mg Carbohydrates: 5g Fiber: 2g Sugar: 1g Protein: 3g

This data was provided and calculated by Nutritionix.