Intreged by the green color of asparagus
In my life, I only ate white asparagus. Usually, I'd buy these small ones you can buy in a pot in the supermarket. I never prepped them fresh myself. When I was younger, I remember eating the big white ones prepped by my mother, but honestly this has been a long time ago and I never experimented with food and asparagus when cooking myself. The small ones usually don't even make it to a real meal, but are more eaten as a snack.
The green asparagus are usually eye catching when I see them, but as I had no recipe to try them, until this week, I just never bought them. Some days ago, I was again intreged by the color and decided to search online for some prepping information. I always thought you needed an asparagus pan to prep them, but nowadays I prefer not cooking veggies but use a grill pan or the oven to prep them instead. My search was simple: how to prepare green asparagus in the oven. Luckily, the first answers were satisfying and I read they can be prepped very easily. That was enough to convince me to buy them.
What to eat with the asparagus?
I had some sweet potatoes in the fridge and after seeing a few recipes with the asparagus and sweet potatoes, I decided to use them. I didn't follow any recipe but just decided to try the first round with some spices and olive oil only to see if we even like them before prepping a fancy meal and be disappointed once eating. I like to test things out first, this way I can also think about other combinations easier.
I read some contradictive information about to peel or not to peel the green asparagus and I used a peeler to slightly peel them, hoping it would be enough. It was all one big surprise how they'd turn out anyway, I was fully expecting them to end up a disaster, this way it could only turn out better than expected.
I love how the they look, and I read that the top of the asperagus tastes nicely when prepped in the oven. To prep them, I used a baking tin and just spread them out on the tin, sprinkling them with olive oil and spiced them with salt and pepper plus a little nutmeg. I also added some bruised garlic in between them, and some slices or garlic on the side as I love baked garlic. Normally I bake them in the pan on the stove but I thought I should try out if this works in the oven as well.
I used 3 quite small sweet potatoes for the three of us, cutting them in slices. No fancy prepping here either, I put them in a baking tin and sprinkled olive oil, pepper and salt on top. I was unsure about the prepping time of the potatoes as I normally cut them in cubes and they take quite some time before we can eat them. Therefore, I first placed these in the oven at 200 degrees, I think they were done in about 25 minutes max. I covered them in with some alu foil and then placed the asparagus in the oven for another 20 to 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, my boyfriend was taking care of the steak for us as that's his department. I don't burn my hands on steak anymore as I will overcook them usually, making it a disappointment once it's plated.
The moment of truth
Now it's going to be the question, do we like asparagus, and the combination with sweet potatoes and steak? Are they spiced enough etc.. Here's the end result:
We both agreed, it was delicious. Yes, I can experiment with spices and adding other ingredients in the future, but for now, we agreed green asparagus are delicious and approved by the both of us!
The next day I made a vegetarian meal leaving the steak out
We both agreed that the portion of asparagus was a bit small, as I only used half of the portion I bought, so the next day I bought another portion and prepared them with the rest. I also used the last few sweet potatoes to make a vegetarian meal for my daughter and me.
I left the asparagus a bit too long in the oven this time, so they were a bit crunchy at some parts, but honestly, I still loved them. My daughter decided she didn't like the asparagus so much, so she only ate 2 of them. I don't mind her not eating a lot of some veggies as long as she actually tastes them a few times and also eats a bit of it at least. I'm happy she's doing that better by the week. You can't be a fan of everything, and she ate enough veggies this week for me to give her some slack yesterday.
Do you like (green) asparagus? Any favorite combination or recipe you want to share? Please do in a comment, it's always good to read other people's inspiration when it comes to cooking!
Enjoy your weekend :)