Asparagus

Finally! It's that time of the year again when one of my favorite veggies is in season and I can start to gorge on it until it costs me four dollars a pound again. Yes, I am talking about that same veggie which too often has been destroyed by boiling for years, that strange green stalk with the consistency of mush when it is served out of a can.

I swear, asparagus gets a horrible reputation that it doesn't deserve, so what people have been abusing it for years and mutilating the poor veggie into baby food paste for years. We shouldn't abuse such a fantastic veggie that is very easy to prepare, but of course there are those out there that will continue to damage and abuse the reputation of this misunderstood plant based on flashbacks of your mom forcing you to eat that crappy canned variety.

To you, I say, "have heart, be brave, and get out the fire: we be grillin'."

Grilled Asparagus

Tools:

Charcoal or Gas Grill, turned on and hot (about 400 degrees-ish).

1 gallon plastic bag

grilling tongs

Ingredients

1 lb of fresh asparagus

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons fresh minced garlic (I used jarred minced garlic to save time)

Pepper and salt to taste

This recipe is a two-day recipe, I like my asparagus to have the time to absorb some of those wonderful garlic flavors before grilling. But if you don't have time, prepare the asparagus as the grill gets warm. It'll still be delicious, just not as garlic-y.

First thing you need to do is wash the asparagus and dry it off. Then you will want to remove the bottom of the stalk of each plant, asparagus is very "tough" by the base of the plant where it comes out of the ground. There is a REALLY easy way to figure out when the asparagus is tender and to remove the bottom: grip the stalk at the end and at the middle and bend it until it breaks. As you remove the bottoms, toss the tender tops into the gallon plastic bag to get it ready.

Once all the asparagus is done, pour the olive oil, garlic, and seasoning into the bag, seal the bag, and toss it around until the stalks are covered in the oil/spice mix. You can then just plop the bag into the refrigerator overnight.

Get the grill hot the next day and cook all of your meats. Once all of your other dishes are done, place the asparagus on the grill in a single layer. Don't stack it! The olive oil will cook the asparagus quickly on the grill, so you want to keep rotating it. The asparagus is done when you get those fantastic grill lines on the top and bottom of the asparagus, this will take at most 4-6 minutes on a hot grill, a little longer on a slightly cooler grill.

The asparagus can be eaten as is, although I know some people like to abuse the poor stalks in butter once they are done. To each their own, but I think the butter really cheapens the fantastic flavors that fresh asparagus gets when grilled.

Bien Camino!