Today I was confronted by a bunch of fat asparagus stalks and four possible ways to cook it: boiling, steaming, sauteéing or roasting.
As it was potluck at my house today, in honor of my sister-in-law's birthday, I didn't have anything to concentrate on except the asparagus, and setting the table. How nice to apply my mind only to the vegetable for once.
I finally opted for roasting, since it's winter and I don't mind firing up the stove. Plus, I'd never made it this way before.
How unbelievably simple it was: cut or break off the woody bottoms of the stalks, place them on a cookie sheet, brush with olive oil, season with salt & pepper. Plop them into a 400 degree oven for 10-15 minutes, turning once or twice.
The stalks turned out very lightly browned & crisp in places and I was amazed at how good they were. I've eaten asparagus before, knowing it was good for me, almost enjoying it at times, but today I really wanted more.
It has been reported that roasting asparagus evidently produces high acrylamide levels. On the other hand, it has been pointed out that perhaps these acrylamide studies were released to the public prematurely, and should not cause widespread panic.
I don't know. With four ways to cook asparagus, I see no need to rely exclusively on roasting. As spring comes and tender young asparagus shows up in the stores, I think I'll buy one of those little upright steamers and cook it just a notch beyond raw.
But since roasting produced results too scrumptious for me to abandon this method foreer, I'm glad I'd have to eat 80,000 stalks of roast asparagus per day for the rest of my life for it to really harm me.
10:08:20 PM 
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