J – This dish is an old friend made new again.
I’ve been preparing grilled asparagus for longer than I can remember. It got to where I couldn’t go to a BBQ party unless I brought this dish. Everyone loved it. Of course, there was never enough. But, going fast obscured an essential problem … the spears got cold very quickly on a serving plate.
What to do? Time to reconsider the method.
Luke has long advocated par-cooking many vegetables before incorporating them into the finished dish. Many times this technique will eliminate the all-too-often overcooking of delicate greens, because you add them to the dish right at the end just to warm them up.
Blanching is one of his go-to methods. Blanch spinach. Yup. Blanch kale. Yup. Blanch most other green vegetables. Asparagus fits right in.
Back in the day, I had adopted the cowboy-campfire-very-hot method of using a grill. Getting a honking, way-too-hot gas grill only reinforced the practice.
Bad idea. But, it persisted … including while making my grilled asparagus.
The upside, I thought, was efficiency. The down side was, sometimes, a bunch of burned asparagus. What I didn’t realize was how quickly they got cold on a plate, outside at a BBQ.
| Asparagus Week: Grilled Asparagus |
- 1 pound asparagus, medium-sized, woody part trimmed
- 2 Tbsp grapeseed oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
- Add asparagus and blanch for exactly one minute.
- Remove from pot and rinse under very cold water to stop the cooking process.
- Drain completely and dry with a paper towels. Set aside.
- In a small mixing bowl add salt, pepper, garlic powder and lemon zest. Mix well.
- Pour oil over asparagus. Mix well to coat.
- Sprinkle seasoning mix over top and top.
- Place on a hot grill to create char marks and finish cooking. About 1 minute on each side.
- Remove from grill.
- Serve immediately.
- Enjoy!
My new method, thanks to Luke, lets me blanch them in advance and hold seasoned until I need them. Then, I grill them quickly in batches.
Simple. Hot. Delicious!!