These are a lovely, quick, simple treat, especially with asparagus available cheap and in large amounts at the farmer’s market, and prosciutto available over at Trader Joe’s. It just requires the oven going up to 450, which, with how hot it got yesterday, wasn’t an option until later in the evening. However, the end result was absolutely worth it. 

Kevin also recommends dipping these in a soft boiled egg, which I can absolutely see improving this even more. I’ll give it a try later. 

Crispy Prosciutto-Wrapped Asparagus Fries

Ingredients

• 1 lb asparagus, trimmed
• 4 oz prosciutto, torn into strips

Preheat your oven to 450. While your oven heats, tear your prosciutto into thin strips (about three or so strips from a piece), and wrap each of these strips around an asparagus spear (see pic one). Wrap until you run out of asparagus or prosciutto, whichever comes first. Bake for about ten minutes, until the prosciutto is nice and crispy (see pic two), and then enjoy the savory greatness. 

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Spring is here, which means it’s asparagus and citrus season! Looking for something to combine those two things? Then look no further than this. You can pick up asparagus from the farmer’s market for super cheap, along with an orange and lemon for cheap, and with the juices they release while roasting, combined with the butter and olive oil here, and the end result is pure amazingness. Hell, you could also probably do this well on a grill. 

Citrus Butter Roasted Asparagus

Ingredients

• 1 lb asparagus, ends trimmed (original recipe recommends two bunches, may try it with 2 lbs next time)
• 1 lemon, sliced thin
• 1 blood orange, sliced thin (I used tarocco, because it was on sale, cara cara and clementines also work)
• 4 T butter, split into 1 T pieces
• 2 T olive oil
• .5 c grated parmigiano-reggiano (or parmesan)
• sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 400. Take your lemon and orange slices, and asparagus, and lay it together on a foil-lined sheet pan. Drizzle the olive oil over it, and layer the butter slices on top of it, while sprinkling with the parmigiano-reggiano, sea salt, and pepper. 

Place in the oven and roast for 25 minutes, tossing occasionally, until your asparagus is tender, and ever so slightly charred. And then, enjoy the citrusy asparagus goodness!

It’s asparagus season at the farmer’s market, one of my favorite times of the year – it basically means I can pick up something like 2 lbs of real good asparagus for cheap, and use ALL THE ASPARAGUS. I decided to do something different than my two mainstay asparagus recipes this time, and while I was figuring out what I wanted to do, I came across this recipe, and realized I already had the blue cheese and balsamic caramel in my fridge. As such, the decision was pretty quickly made what to do with this. 

This is a flavor combination I’ve never tried before and might not have thought of, but trust me when I say that if it tastes even a quarter as good as it smelled when I was putting it together, you’ll be in for a real treat. 

Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic Caramel and Blue Cheese
Depends on amt asparagus used; 2 lbs lasted appx six lunches as a side

Ingredients

• 1 recipe balsamic caramel (I had some leftover from making the steaks a while ago)
• desired amount of asparagus (I had 2 lbs on hand)
• olive oil
• sea salt
• .5 c crumbled blue cheese (I just sliced mine off a block I had and it crumbled pretty easy)

Preheat your oven to 400. Lay some foil down on a large baking tray, and spread your asparagus out in a single layer (or as close to it as you can get), tossing with olive oil and sea salt. Roast your asparagus between 10 to 30 minutes, depending on how much you have (the above result was 2 lbs after 25 minutes). 

Take your roasted asparagus, drizzle with the balsamic caramel, and sprinkle with the blue cheese, and then enjoy!

Looking for another quick dinner?  Try Garlic Beef, Asparagus, and Shiitake Stir-Fry!  Don’t have garlic hoisin sauce?  Simple – mince half a head of garlic, and put in sauce to infuse.  Messed up a bit on this recipe, but it seems to have turned out fine.  Also, lack a pan lid? Find a large Tupperware container and put it over it, it works fine.  This is basically me fucking up and improvising (by adding shiitake mushrooms), which appears to be a theme today.

Garlic Beef, Shiitake, and Asparagus Stir-Fry

Ingredients

• 1 T vegetable oil
• ½ c garlic hoisin sauce (alternatively, having the hoisin but not in garlic flavor, take ½ c hoisin and half a head of garlic, minced, and combine)
• 1 lb beef flank steak (or stir fry meat, or sirloin steak, whatever gives you a good cheap cut of meat), sliced thin and into pieces
• 1 lb asparagus, ends trimmed and sliced into one inch pieces
• 1 container shiitake mushrooms, destemmed and sliced

In a medium bowl, combine the flank steak and 2 T of the garlic hoisin sauce (whoops, added the whole thing here. derp).  Marinate for 15ish mins at room temp.  Heat the oil in a pan, and stir fry the meat until lightly browned, but not fully cooked, and remove the meat.  If you managed to add all the sauce for the marinade, save as much as possible in the original container, or whatever is left over in the pan.

Add the asparagus and shiitake, and stir fry for appx one minute, and add ½ c to water and cover (either with a lid, or, if you’re me, with your  tupperware container).  Steam for one to two minutes, and then remove the lid.

Add the meat, whatever’s left of the sauce, and stir until the beef is cooked and everything else is well combined.  And then, nom!