Lately I’ve been buying a ton of asparagus, they’re popping up all over in grocery stores, markets and menus, a sure sign of spring, and over the last couple of weeks I’ve been making them all different ways. Here’s just a few ideas to serve them either as a side or a starter.

Make a vinaigrette with 3/4 cup of olive oil to 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, 1 shallot minced, 1 teaspoon Dijon, a squeeze of 1/2 lemon, salt and pepper. Whisk until blended. Pour some of it over your roasted asparagus, crumble up some Gorgonzola and sprinkle on top, garnish with toasted chopped hazelnuts.

Note: You’ll likely have extra vinaigrette unless you make a huge amount of asparagus, so bottle it up and save it for salads of all kinds.

Mix lemon zest and parmesan cheese together with salt and cracked pepper, use this mixture to sprinkle over your raw asparagus.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Snap off the tough ends of the asparagus. Unwrap the phyllo and cut the stack in half lengthwise. Reserve 1 stack for later use. Cover the phyllo with a damp towel to keep it from drying out. Take 1 or 2 sheets of phyllo and brush lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle with the parmesan mixture. Place 2 to 3 asparagus spears on the short end of the sheet. Roll up, jelly-roll style. Place each piece, seam side down, on a baking sheet. Brush with more melted butter and sprinkle with more Parmesan. Repeat until all the asparagus spears are used up. Place baking sheet in oven and bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until golden brown and crispy.
Serve with an aioli, or in this case I used Stacey’s wonderful romesco sauce for dipping.

Roasted Asparagus with Sun-Dried Tomato Gremolata

In a food processor add 6 sun-dried tomatoes marinated in oil, 2 cups of parsley, 1 cup of basil, 1 clove of garlic.

Pulse til desired chunkiness. Sprinkle over your roasted asparagus. Great with cauliflower too!

Creamy Asparagus Soup

This is the perfect soup for springtime , I found this recipe while visiting Deb’s blog last Sunday, she just raved about how good it was and said it was a winner three times over. Fortunately I had everything I needed to make this and whipped it up in no time, it took less than 30 minutes. We loved it, very healthy and low fat, I just used a dash of milk at the end to “cream it up” a bit. Oh, and it has secret ingredients that make it extra special. Go check out the recipe here.