In this recipe, toss fresh asparagus with garlic-infused olive oil, salt, and pepper. Grill it to perfection, sprinkle with goat cheese and a few chive blossoms for a quick and easy dinner vegetable side dish.
When I think of spring, I think of flowering bulbs, warmer days, and the first spears of asparagus poking up through the ground, ready to put on the grill for grilled asparagus. I love going out to my asparagus bed, find those first tender spears barely big enough to harvest, just waiting to be cut. I cut the asparagus spears just above the ground when they are about 8 to 12 inches tall.
How asparagus grows. If left to grow the stalk will turn into a big bushy fern about five feet tall. I’ve nicknamed my asparagus bed Fern Valley because once the asparagus has turned into giant ferns the bed is one beautiful mess of bright green ferns.
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When I was taking this picture of the asparagus fern I realized for the first time that the asparagus fern has tiny bell shaped flowers with yellow centers. Each flower is only 2-3mm long. Amazing that a great big fern has such ity bits flowers.
How should you prep the asparagus before cooking?
Ever noticed the bottom end of the asparagus spear is often tough and fibrous? Do you cut or snap the fibrous end off? Most cooks cut the end off, but I am going to convince you it’s a snap to be a snap it off, cook. When you cut the end off, it is hard to decide where to cut. It should be high enough to get rid of the fibrous end and not waste any of the tender portions. Snapping the spear accomplishes that every time. Grasp the spear close to the end in both hands and gently bend the spear. It will break at the beginning of the tender part of the spear. Where the spear snaps will vary, snapping ensures you won’t have a mouthful of tough, chewy asparagus.
How to grill the asparagus. Get your Grill on and lets grill some asparagus!
After washing the asparagus and snapping off the tough end, drizzle the asparagus with garlic-infused olive oil. If you don’t have garlic-infused oil virgin olive oil works well also. Grill asparagus in a grill pan or on the BBQ until fork tender. Transfer to a serving plate, add a generous grind of salt and pepper. Sprinkle with goat cheese or parmesan cheese and add a few chive blossoms for garnish.
Edible flowers: I love adding edible flowers to my recipes. I grow my edible flowers, as the commercially grown flowers have pesticides. Herbs are an easy edible flower to grow. Let the herbs grow until they flower then harvest the flowers for your recipes as well as the leaves. Chives, oregano, marjoram, and basil are all easy to grow. For color grow nasturtiums and marigolds.
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Grilled Asparagus with Goat Cheese
Equipment
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- grill pan or the Cuisinart griddler.
Ingredients
- 1 lb asparagus fresh
- 1 tbsp olive oil garlic infused
- 1 ounce goat cheese
Instructions
- To change the number of serving: hover the mouse over the number of servings, a slider will pop up. The slider can be adjusted up or down. This will automatically recalculate and adjust the amount of each ingredient for you.
- Preheat a grill pan or the Cuisinart griddler.
- Drizzle the asparagus with the garlic-infused olive oil.
- Grill in the grill pan or in a vegetable basket on the BBQ until fork tender.
- Transfer to a serving plate. Add a generous grind of salt and pepper, sprinkle with the goat cheese. Serve either warm or cold. Garnish with chive blossoms.
