Roasted Asparagus

The Craving Chronicles — Fri, 06 May 2011 11:29:40 +0000

I’ve been planning to share this recipe for a over a year now, but I kept passing it over in favor of more exciting, more chocolate-y recipes. I mean, how can roasted asparagus compete with recipes like Cocoa Brownies with Browned Butter or Champagne Cream Puffs? But honestly, this is one of my favorite ways to eat vegetables ever. When asparagus season starts each Spring I get almost giddy about roasting some up and stuffing it in my face.

This recipe is so simple you’re probably thinking “What’s the big deal? It’s just asparagus.” But oh, roasting does something to asparagus that’s near magical. It somehow intensifies the flavor while bringing out a subtle sweetness. I like to roast mine until the tips are browned and crunchy, which when combined with a little salt makes those beautiful green spears downright addictive!

Roasted Asparagus

Serves 2-4

This is one of those recipes where you don’t need to be exact. Use these measurements as a general guideline, but adjust to your taste. Makes a great side dish on its own, but can also be use in other recipes – like quiches!

Ingredients

1 bunch of asparagus, stemmed*
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 big pinches of kosher salt

Directions

* To stem asparagus, grasp the spear with two hands – one at the base and one near the middle. Gently bend the spear and the woody end should just snap off. Discard woody ends.

Cover a baking sheet with foil (for easy clean up). Preheat oven to 400°F.

Lay asparagus on the prepared baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and toss until evenly coated. Arrange spears in a single layer.

Roast at 400°F for 10-15 minutes for skinny asparagus (15-20 minutes for thicker asparagus), or until tender.

Filed under: Healthy, Recipe, Side Dish

Baked Pineapple Casserole

The Craving Chronicles — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:46:20 +0000

I was hoping to get this recipe posted before Easter, but clearly that didn’t happen. However, maybe you can put it to good use while trying to use up your leftover ham! You’re doing that too, right? I feel like I’ve been eating ham for every meal since Sunday, but I somehow still haven’t made a dent in how much of it I have left.

Anyway, this recipe here is the whole reason I eat ham. I’m not a vegetarian or anything, but I prefer my pork in other tastier forms, namely bacon. But I will eat ham if it means I get to eat baked pinapple on the side. This dish had been a staple at our family holidays since I was a kid, and to this day we still beg my mom to make it at every opportunity.

I think what I’m trying to say here is that it tastes really, really good, and I’m pretty sure you’re going to want to eat this.

Baked Pineapple Casserole
Serves 6 as a side dish, but if your family is like mine, it will serve 4 really hungry people who will fight over the last crumbs

5-8 slices of bread, cubed
1 20oz can of crushed pineapple in juice
1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs

(Pretty much any bread will work. I used challah in this batch, but plain old white sandwich bread works fine too. If you prefer, you can cut off the crusts. The number of slices you need will depend on how absorbent the bread is.)

Preheat oven to 350°.

Beat butter and sugar until smooth. Add eggs and beat until combined. Add pineapple (juice and all!) and mix well.

Placed cubed bread in a greased pan. (I used a 3 qt. Corningware dish sprayed with Pam. A double batch will fit in a 9×13 pan.) Pour the pineapple mixture over the bread cubes, making sure all the bread is covered in liquid. The goal here is to have just enough bread to soak up most of the liquid without having any pieces totally dry. If you still have a lot of liquid left, add more bread cubes. (The final consistency should be something like french toast, not soup!)

Bake uncovered at 350° for about 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until cooked through and lightly brown on top.

Posted in Recipe, Side Dish

The Craving Chronicles » Side Dish

Roasted Asparagus