Grilled! You want to use the fatter ones (I sometimes use a vegetable peeler near the base so they're not so woody) and marinate them in a little olive oil and thyme and lemon zest (or whatever you like, herb-wise), then grill them until they're tender at the base and caramelized at the tips. You'll want to roll them a little midway through.

I use a grill-pan thing (like a cookie sheet with holes) that sits on the grate so I don't lose too many spears through the gaps in the regular grate.

Photos here (part of a corned-beef hash recipe I've posted here before).

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My favorite asparagus preparation - toss with lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil, kosher salt and black pepper, then grill them on a grill pan inside, or better yet, outside on the charcoal grill. The grilling adds an excellent depth to the flavor.

I like to serve them warm off the grill, or chill them for later use in a salad. Yesterday, for Easter brunch, I made a baby spinach salad with a mustard/lemon/sherry vinaigrette, pan fried prosciutto strips, crumbled dry chevre, roasted pine nuts and then tossed in the grilled asparagus. Tasty!

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Grr. I always forget you can't do HTML links here. How come?

http://kittbo.blogspot.com/2007/02/hash-up.html

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@ Kitt - You read my mind. :)

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Definitely roasted, but one of these days I'm going to try the grill.

I've found that to reheat roasted asparagus, the best way for me is to put them in the toaster oven that has been set at 425 degrees, but not preheated, for 6-7 minutes. Perfection!

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similar to yours, but brown butter and parm cheese.

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Roasted 'til slightly crispy, but with a less-insane amount of garlic :)

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What a beautiful picture of asparagus. Now that is a food porn pic.

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Grilled is my favorite but I still love creamed asparagus on toast with hard boiled eggs. This was something my mom made fairly regularly for us when I was younger as my dad loved it and my mom always grew her own asparagus.

To make it, she'd simply cut up the spears in to 1" pieces and cook them. She'd boil them but I steam them now. Then, she'd make a simple white sauce with by putting some milk and flower in a jar and shaking it up then heating it with some butter until it thickened. She'd add the asparagus, lots of black pepper and pour it over toast. Then she'd slice up a hard boiled egg over the top.

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Joe, that sounds fantastic. I've never thought of making creamed asparagus.

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I used to make asparagus like this all the time in my toaster oven in college. very simple and tasty.

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I smoke Asparagus on the Big Green Egg with some apple wood and dress it with some red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, and garlic.

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Marissa: It really is good. It's certainly not fancy or gourmet but it's comfort food to me.

Just one tip, be careful not to overcook the asapargus. Mushy creamed asparagus is really bad.

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It's funny you should post this, since we had asparagus for Easter. We *never" have it for holidays meals, but my sister just felt like making it yesterday. She also made cornbread and beans to go along with our ham, carrots, and mashed potatoes.

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Sometime I need to make the famous Paula Deen Asparagus Sandwich:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_28656,00.html

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Since I'm a grill-less city gal, I love roasting asparagus in a paper bag -- I think Tyler Florence taught me -- w/ lemon slices, garlic, olive oil, and s&p. Generally it's about 20 minutes at 400 degrees (less if they're super skinny). No cleanup, and they come out perfectly tender-crisp, which is how I like them.

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This is my first post here, but I figured I'd put it up since I just made asparagus this way yesterday.

The best asparagus I've had was prepared thusly:

Simply heat a cast iron pan on high until it smokes. You do this with the pan completely dry (no oil is needed yet). Then just chop off the woody bottoms and throw the asparagus into the blazing hot pan. Throw some kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper over it. Let the asparagus sit there for 30 second or a minute or so.

Now here's the part where you'll want to open all the windows and turn the hood on high. This will create A LOT of smoke.

Take some olive oil and just splash it over the asparagus. Smoke will pour out of it for a little while. After 30 seconds or so, pour some water in the pan (just slightly more than enough to cover the bottom). The water will instantly boil through, steaming the asparagus. Let the water steam it for a minute or less and pull it out.

You'll be left with slightly charred, oily, crispy, salty asparagus that is perfectly cooked and actually tastes like asparagus.

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i like my asparagus blanched and still kinda crispy with hollandaise sauce. but i'll have to wait until june - because that's when it's in season here in germany and they dedicate the whole month to the asparagus. do they loooove their aspargus! it's everywhere in the restaurants and markets.

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#17, Matthew- yes, I agree with you.

I prefer it steamed for a few minutes, just enough to make it slightly floppy.

Apparently the ideal way to steam it is to stand it upright, so the tougher bottoms get cooked more than the tender tops. I've never tried this, though- I just stop eating when I get to a tough bit...

Sorry, but I can't understand why anyone would want to grill or roast it!

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Huh. I'm really not trying to be snide, but I couldn't possibly be the only one who thinks that the asparagus in the picture looks terribly overdone. When the individual fibers are that apparent, it usually means that the flesh underneath is too soft to stand up to it. I admit that I like my asparagus on the crisp side--a quick blanch is enough in the height of season, and a light sauté otherwise. I enjoy my asparagus tasting like asparagus, I suppose.

I honestly would like to know if that looks overcooked to anyone else, or if I'm just being too picky.

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