grilled asparagus

Are you wondering why there’s a recipe for asparagus in the Farmers’ Market cookbook? Well, asparagus will grow here in Alaska—it’s a perennial, though, and takes several years to produce harvestable stalks. Maybe someday we’ll have Alaska-grown asparagus at our farmer’s market.

This asparagus recipe was in a springtime Rise & Shine Bakery Bulletin as a component of my unconventional (but by now, traditional) Easter dinner. For the complete menu, see the recipe for egg salad sandwiches in the “sandwiches and things to eat on toast” section.

This is so easy it’s almost embarrassing to call it a recipe, but since it’s how we eat almost all of the asparagus we buy, I’ll describe it. I love to serve this as a side to any sandwich or toast, or with another vegetable and/or bean dish. It’s great with any grilled meat or fish, and the asparagus also makes a great addition to an appetizer plate.

a pound or two of fresh asparagus (buy more than you think you could possibly eat)
extra-virgin olive oil
sea salt or kosher salt

1. Heat your grill to very hot.
2. Snap the ends off the bottoms of the asparagus, as close to the bottom of the stalk as they will still snap nicely. Toss them with olive oil and a sprinkling of salt.
3. Turn the grill heat down to medium. Grill the asparagus until they are nice and tender and have grill marks all around; about 9 minutes, turning them every 3 minutes or so.
4. Eat them right away or else eat them later at room temperature. Try not to eat them all right as they come off the grill, because you are likely to burn your tongue, and the rest of your family will be annoyed.

Tip: To keep your asparagus fresh when you get it home from the grocery store, cut about a half-inch off the bottom of the stalks, wrap a wet paper towel around the bottoms of the stalks, and stand them upright in an open plastic bag wrapped around their bottoms. Fasten the bag around the bottom of the stems with a rubber band.