I’ve been waiting (patiently, mostly) for my asparagus to bear fruit. Or rather, spears. This year, finally, there are enough for a few proper meals. Asparagus rewards the patient. You plant the crowns, tend the bed, and then wait – three years, sometimes more – before you can harvest in earnest. But when those first green shoots push through in spring, you know it was worth all the wait. And once it’s established, asparagus becomes a loyal friend, sending up tender spears every year for a decade or more.
There’s something very satisfying about cooking what you’ve tended for years, especially when the first crop is as fresh and tender as this.
Asparagus recipes are something I look forward to each year:
These are some established favourites, but this year I wanted simple. I wanted rustic simplicity, the kind of dish that needs nothing more than good bread, plant-based cheese and maybe a squeeze more lemon at the table. Oven-roasted asparagus with garlic and lemon is that dish. Freshly picked asparagus, drizzled with olive oil, tossed with garlic and lemon zest, then roasted until the edges char just a little.
Next year, there’ll be even more spears, but for now, this is the taste of spring I look forward too.
Oven-roasted Asparagus with Garlic and Lemon
Serves 2-4
Ingredients
- 1 large bunch fresh asparagus
- 2 tbsp olive oil or plant-based stock for oil free option
- 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or microplaned
- Zest and juice of a medium lemon
- A pinch or grind of sea salt
- Lemon wedges to serve
Method
Preheat the oven to 220 °C /200 °C fan.
Blend the olive oil, lemons juice, zest and garlic together and season with sea salt.
Snap off the woody ends from the asparagus and spread the spears on a lined baking tray.
Brush with the flavoured olive oil, leftover oil mix can be brushed on bread and grilled, added to a plant-based pesto of drizzled over a seasonal green salad.
Oven-roast for 12–15 minutes, or until the spears are tender and just starting to brown at the tips.
Subscribe and follow at call.me.ishbel and The Green Gourmet NZ for catering and plant-based cooking classes.
Are you located in the Southern hemisphere?
Why would you talk about asparagus collected in your garden in the fall?
Kia ora Sophie – yes, I’m down here in the Southern Hemisphere, where the seasons like to run on their own timetable. So while you’re raking leaves and settling into fall, my asparagus is popping up and insisting it’s spring.
It does make for some funny conversations across the equator – I’ll be talking about tender new shoots while someone else is making pumpkin pie. But that’s part of the charm of sharing recipes from a little corner of New Zealand: we’re all cooking in different seasons at the same time.
Thanks for reading from the other side of the globe – it’s lovely having you here.