Day 58: Roasted Asparagus with Browned Butter
What a lesson: Perfect, ultra-fresh need little - any? - adornment. The browned butter sauce is perfectly good - really good, in fact. But the asparagus were so perfect, all on their own, that the sauce actually detracted. The roasting process (without the browned butter) is a great zero-point way to roast asparagus and presumably other vegetables. Usually it seems to take more oil than I'd like to coat vegetables headed to the oven for roasting AND it's sort of an oily mess, I usually just dig in with my hands for simplicity and speed. The cooking spray (or a mister with your own oil) makes light, er, work of the process and calorie impact. ROASTED ASPARAGUS with BROWNED BUTTER Active time: 10 minutes Time to table: 25 minutes Serves 4 1 pound asparagus Butter-flavored cooking spray Salt & pepper 1 tablespoon unsalted butter 1 teaspoon soy sauce 1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar Preheat oven to 400F. Clean and trim asparagus, removing the woody ends. Place