Culinary Explorer
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Spring Asparagus with Olive Oil
Created by Chef Ally
Asparagus at the peak of spring, roasted briefly at high heat until the tips crisp and the stalks stay bright, finished with nothing but your best olive oil and a squeeze of lemon because perfect ingredients need almost nothing done to them.
The first asparagus of spring is a gift. After months of roots and storage crops, here is something green and alive, pushing up through the soil with urgency. When you find asparagus this fresh, your job is to get out of the way.
At the farmers market, look for bunches that were cut this morning. The tips should be tight and purple-tinged, the stalks firm enough to snap cleanly. Ask the farmer when they harvested. A good one will tell you. This relationship matters. Your choices shape the food system, and buying directly from someone who grows with care keeps that farm in business for another season.
High heat is essential here. You want the oven hot enough that the asparagus roasts rather than steams, developing a faint char on the tips while the interior stays tender and sweet. Eight to twelve minutes. That is all. Then olive oil, lemon, salt. Let things taste of what they are.
Ingredients
fresh asparagus
Quantity
1 1/2 pounds
preferably thick spears
best-quality extra-virgin olive oil
Quantity
3 tablespoons
divided
flaky sea salt
Quantity
to taste
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| fresh asparaguspreferably thick spears | 1 1/2 pounds |
| best-quality extra-virgin olive oildivided | 3 tablespoons |
| flaky sea salt | to taste |
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