Roasted Dilly Asparagus

Asparagus!

Ah asparagus - that strange little wonderful vegetable that shows up in our grocery stores come winter. The green stalks usually bundled in 1 lb bunches held together by two blue or purple rubber bands. So many ways to enjoy this vegetable all of them wonderful! It is to this day one hearty little vegetable that can spring from patches of earth on the side of roads and railroad tracks at the first sign of spring weather.

Asparagus sprouting from the ground

Asparagus field

One of my favorite ways of cooking asparagus is roasting it. Steaming it works well but there is a razor fine line where asparagus goes from delicious to mushy! I am not saying that roasting asparagus can't be over cooked, but the dry heat from the oven tends to dry the asparagus out so it isn't mushy.

Here is what you'll need:
1 1lb Asparagus
Olive oil
salt
pepper
dill (or your favorite spice/herb)

Here is what you do:

Trim the woody end off the asparagus (for a nifty trick watch the video on this blog). Brush the asparagus generously with olive oil. Spread the asparagus on a foil lined cookie sheet. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and dill (or another spice/herb). Pop the asparagus in a pre-heated 450 F oven for 20 minutes. Best to roll them over half way through the roasting time! 

Skinnier asparagus may require less time in the oven while fat asparagus may need a little more. So just keep an eye on them!

Serve as a vegetable with dinner or cut up on a salad cold. Or just munch on them as a snack.

Enjoy!

~ Recipe ~

1 lb Asparagus (trimmed)

olive oil

Salt and Pepper

Dill (or another spice/herb)

Pre-heat an oven to 450 F. Brush the asparagus generously with olive oil and arrange on a foil lined cookie sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and dill. Roast for ~20 minutes. Turn the asparagus half way through the roasting time.  

Omelette Night Try 1!

 

There are nights when the only thing that sounds appetizing is breakfast foods! I am not snobby I have no problem eating breakfast any time of day. I do however do have issues eating non-breakfasty foods in the morning. Luckily ESFSW also enjoys breakfast for dinner and omelettes. He actually makes them quite frequently for himself. I haven't tasted any of his yet but he promises to make one for me soon! 

Omelettes are not tricky to make, although it did take me a while to find the patience to let the egg cook before I accidentally just turned my omelette into a scramble! I also learned that it is best to use slightly cooked vegetables and always use cooked tomatoes or else the whole thing gets watery! Ewwww!

The omelette I made this night was asparagus, blushing tomato and goat cheese! I also made hash browns, but I haven't been too successful in that endeavor so I didn't take a picture of those.

And here is what I did:

Ingredients:

2 eggs (per omelette)

1/8 onion - diced and saute in butter

3-4 asparagus stocks (cut into thirds and lightly steamed)

blushing tomatoes

herb goat cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

butter

Beat two eggs in a bowl. Heat frying pan and melt butter. Heat on medium high heat (adjust as needed). Once butter has fully melted, tilt pan to make sure it coats the entire surface. Pour egg into the pan. Add onions on top the egg. Let the eggs cook undisturbed when you start to see the edges firm up add other ingredients to one side of the pan. Let eggs continue to cook. Gently with a spatula fold the egg only side over the other ingredients. Let it cook til the egg sets. You can actually turn off the heat at this point. 

Now the tricky part! Take a plate and with a sure and quick movement turn the frying pan over flipping the omelette onto the plate. Now I usually would eat mine with some mixed salad greens, but hash browns also are tasty!

My Omelette!