Garlicky Asparagus
As a mama to 3 little boys, I’m always looking for ways to make vegetables AMAZING!
Growing up my vegetables were iceberg lettuce and canned corn. Like seriously, that’s it. I spent my 20’s and 30’s learning how to love greens and vegetables. It wasn’t always easy.
One thing I knew for sure was that my kids were going to love vegetables from birth. haha. Easier said than done. I had no idea the challenge that lay ahead.
Pouring over vegetable cookbooks I realized that the yummiest dishes had one thing in common. Fat! Usually butter but sometimes bacon fat, lard, or olive oil.
Couple good fat with a great cast iron pan and you literally can cook anything and everything. I recommend Lodge cast irons as they are American-made and will last you a lifetime. These are the two I use daily. A 12-inch* and a 15-inch* pan. Add a dutch oven* and some baking sheet pans* and you don’t need much else to cook whatever your heart desires.
I love me some butter. Especially if you can get your hands on some grass-fed butter your vegetable-eating world will change. If you buy European butter, they don’t spray their grass so it doesn’t have to be organic. As much as I love American-made everything, I typically try to buy European butter and flour because their farming practices are more holistic and spraying is illegal. I find it’s cheaper than buying all things organic processed in the United States. That is all I will say on this topic because this blog will never end.
Back to butter, my love language.
I recommend buying unsalted butter so that you are in control of how much salt is in your dishes. Plus you can then use the butter for cooking and baking. I like to buy Irish butter, this* is one of my favorite brands. If you’d like to buy in bulk this is a pretty good deal here*.
Butter and vegetable are the best of friends. Throw in some garlic and now you’re really cooking.
I use this as a base recipe for many vegetables. You can cook broccoli, green beans, zucchini, yellow squash, mushrooms, onions, kale, spinach, and many more using the techniques I describe in this recipe.
Please comment below and let me know what other tricks you’d like to know to make your kids love vegetables. Sometimes it feels like a miracle that my 3-year-old, 5-year-old, and 7-year-old will fight over vegetables. And to be completely honest sometimes it feels like a miracle that I love vegetables this much. Whether you love them or are weary of asparagus try this recipe and report back. I truly believe this recipe will inspire you and change your mind on asparagus and make you fall in love with deliciously garlicky buttery vegetables.
Be Abundantly Blessed!
Angelica
Garlicky Asparagus
Course: Dinner, Holidays, Special OccasionsCuisine: Farm to TableDifficulty: Easy6
servings5
minutes20
minutes25
minutesThis garlicky asparagus will be a hit with everyone
Ingredients
2 Bunches of Asparagus
2 Tablespoons of Butter
Drizzle Avacado or Olive Oil
1 Head of Garlic
1-2 Teaspoons Salt to taste
Dash of pepper
Directions
- Add butter and avocado oil to a cast iron pan
- Remove the whole garlic cloves from the head of the garlic. Roughly slice in half or into thirds. You want to leave them big so they don’t burn quickly
- Add the garlic into the butter and oil as it’s heating
- Heat pan on low-medium heat. We are caramelizing the garlic. About 5-7 minutes
- Remove the garlic once it’s lightly browned
- Increase heat in the pan
- Add washed asparagus
- Add salt and pepper to taste
- Cook over medium heat until the asparagus is slightly charred. About 10-15 minutes
- Add the garlic back to the asparagus and heat through
- Serve and Enjoy!
Notes
- We add a splash of oil to the butter so the butter doesn’t burn quickly. Butter alone would burn too quickly. Avacado oil has a high smoke point so adding it to my butter allows me to cook it at a higher temperature without burning my butter.
- Don’t burn your garlic. It tastes horrible. You want it to soften and turn a light-toasted color. Seriously, it becomes sweet and delicious. I started adding this garlic roasting process to many vegetable dishes. My kids fight over the roasted garlic.
- If you like lemon you can add a drizzle of lemon juice to the pan to make a butter lemon sauce.
- Love mushrooms like I do? Throw in some chopped mushrooms when you’re charring the asparagus and now you’re onto something really special.
- Don’t like garlic? No problem. Leave it out. The charred asparagus is delicious with just some salt and pepper.
* Some of the links in this blog are affiliate links that support my blog and allow me to do what I love to do. If you purchase something using the links on my website I may get a small commission for them at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support! I only recommend things I use and love,
