I've been brainstorming interesting ways to put asparagus to use and I found the most flavorful recipe in the cookbook Super Natural Cooking. I can't believe it took me this long to make it. I made it for an easy weekday meal when my dad was in town last week. It only takes a few ingredients, but the flavors are potent. Just make sure that you get very fresh asparagus for this because they make or break the dish. The spears are naturally sweet, and while they can be flown in from South America year round, the actual season is March, April, and May. Asparagus that's been flown in from thousands of miles away won't have the same sweet, delicate flavor of those grown locally because of the time it takes to get from a to b. Spears soon lose their snap and moisture as well.

You're not cooking the olive oil here, so use a good cold pressed, organic variety, (I like McEvoy Ranch).The flavor profile is grassy and bright and goes perfectly with the asparagus. Cold pressed means that no heat was used in the production process. Adding heat in the production process will cause an oil to go bad. Using chemicals in production can definitely hurt the taste of the product, as well as speeding up the deterioration of the oil.

INGREDIENTS