A side dish we love-love-love here at Glover Gardens is grilled asparagus. Not just any grilled asparagus, grilled asparagus our way. That means lots of lemon, lots of garlic, and lots of olive oil to coat those delightful, al denté spears of love.
The Grill-Meister didn’t love vegetables growing up; in fact, he hated them. With a passion. Something about them being cooked to mush…
It’s alway a victory for me if I can get the Grill-Meister and the Bio Son to eat vegetables. The Bonus Son understands the importance of vegetables and needs no prompting. It’s the garlic and lemon that push this dish into the win category for the vegetable-haters. We even started growing our own asparagus to keep up with the demand. Here’s a nice little post about what you need to do to grow asparagus: click here.
The recipe is Grilled Asparagus Our Way; it’s simple and you can throw the asparagus on after you grill the main course.
There’s some debate about how many servings this recipe makes. My (humble) opinion is that it serves 4. Four normal people, that is. When there’s a Reformed Vegetable Hater, it may only serve two. Be warned.
Ingredients
Prep for Grilling
1 lb. bunch of asparagus, washed, with ends cut off (thicker asparagus stalks work better, but this is ok if that’s the only asparagus available
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
generous pinch of red pepper flakes
The After-Grilling Treatment
grated rind of 2 lemons
juice of two lemons
3 cloves of garlic, pressed (mince finely if you don’t have a garlic press)
another generous pinch of red pepper flakes
more coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1/8 – 1/4 cup of extra-virgin olive oil
Gather all of the ingredients. Put the washed and trimmed asparagus into a serving dish and drizzle it with the 2 tbsp olive oil, then top with the first red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Be generous. Use tongs to toss and make sure that all of the asparagus spears are covered with the oil and yummy spices.
Then put the grated lemon rind, lemon juice, pressed garlic, additional red pepper flakes, salt and pepper in a small dish, adding the rest of the olive oil. Use the smaller measure if you are watching calories, and the 1/4 cup measure if you just want those beautiful green asparagus spears to swim in yummy goodness. If you go for the larger pour of olive oil, there will be some of the juices left after all of the asparagus is gone, and you will dutifully save it to use in a marinade or salad dressing.
Grill the asparagus for a few minutes on a gas or charcoal grill, turning at least once. Get a little char for more flavor and character. Remove from the grill, adding back to the original serving dish, and douse immediately with the lemon/garlic/olive oil mixture. The hot asparagus will soak up those lovely flavors and become your best friend.
Serve hot.
Copyright 2015, Glover Gardens Cookbook
Thanks for the ping back, much appreciated! Your asparagus dish looks amazing, here is one of MY favourite ways to cook asparagus! http://bit.ly/1sEaE0l