Roasted Asparagus, Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic-Shallot Butter

Yesterday was Valentine's Day, and Day 28 of cooking from THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT so I decided to make a romantic dinner for my hubby and myself. I personally love asparagus, and know it goes well with red meat and had some baby asparagus on hand so decided to do a roasted asparagus recipe from the cookbook. Here's our thoughts on this side dish...

ROASTED ASPARAGUS WITH BALSAMIC-SHALLOT BUTTER, pretty good...

My hubby is not a big fan of asparagus, or any cooked vegetables, for that matter. I grew up eating mostly canned veggies, so mushy vegetables are right up my ally, however, since I've been married and my hubby hates mushy veggies, I've learned to cook them so they're mostly tender-crisp.

I was watching the Worst Cooks in America recently and Anne Burrell was teaching them to cook some vegetable, green beans I think, and she said "when it's warm, it's done", so I've been trying to put that technique into practice.

This recipe calls for the asparagus to be roasted on a cookie sheet coated, sprayed with cooking spray, with the asparagus lined in a single layer, then covered with foil and baked for 450 degrees for 5 minutes, then uncovered and cooked for another 10 minutes. I didn't use regular sized asparagus, but tiny, very thin, baby asparagus, so thought the cooking time should be less. And, since my hubby's so adamant about his veggies being CRISPY, I just cooked them covered for 6 minutes and they were quite warm, and as Anne Burrell would say, when they're warm they're done. So I decided to serve them after the initial bake time.

After they're done you toss them with the butter mixture I prepared in advance. The flavors of the butter mixture were good, and not overpowering. We both liked this asparagus. I would have preferred them cooked a little longer, but my hubby liked them just the way they were, which says a lot, knowing he really doesn't like cooked veggies, or asparagus very much. He actually liked this dish, so that's a huge compliment for this dish.

I would make this recipe again. I would like to try it cooked a little longer like the recipe calls for. I'm sure we can come to a happy medium between dear hubby and myself. But, overall, this was a good way to cook asparagus and the flavors were good and went well with the meat.

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