We had picked up some nice looking steaks to grill, and fresh asparagus was pretty nicely priced, so thought I’d do a little riff on our more usual asparagus/olive oil/balsamic vinegar roasted asparagus.
And it was good.
The riff?
Crumble some really nice bleu cheese over the nicely roasted asparagus and pop it back in the oven for a minute or so to melt.
Lovely – and perfect with grilled steaks!
INGREDIENTS
•1 lb asparagus spears
•2 to 4 tbsp olive oil
•2 to 4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
•Sea salt and black pepper
•Aleppo pepper (optional)
•Bleu cheese, crumbled
Heat your oven 425º and line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil.
Wash the asparagus and trim off the woody ends – I normally just cut about an inch or so off the bottom.
Note: do not toss those woody asparagus ends! Pop ’em in a freezer bag and save ’em to make the stock for asparagus soup.
At this point, it is your choice whether or not to peel your asparagus; Rich thinks it tastes better peeled, so I run the peeler up two sides of all but the thinnest spears.
Peeled or not, arrange your asparagus on the foil lined baking sheet and season with the salt, pepper, and, if you’re using it, the Aleppo pepper.
Drizzle with the olive oil and balsamic vinegar, then toss to coat the spears more or less evenly and spread the asparagus back out in a single layer.
Pop into the oven and roast for eight to ten minutes, pulling the asparagus out of the oven at the last minute or two and sprinkling it with the crumbled bleu cheese.
Back into the oven just to melt the cheese, then serve.
Perfect with our grilled steaks – and the timing worked out perfectly – once Rich pulled them off the grill and set them aside (covered) to rest before serving; I popped the asparagus into the oven. By the time the bleu cheese was melted, the steaks were ready to eat.