Roasted Asparagus

Roasted asparagus is one of my new favorite foods. Back when asparagus was a little more in season, I made it at least twice a week. It’s so easy and so delicious. So easy and so delicious that it hardly needs more of a description than that. That and the fact that I’m pretty tired from spending most of this evening in the lab (where I’m doing my senior thesis work) collecting E. coli cells, lysing them, and filling a tiny test tube with their DNA (to put it in somewhat understandable words). But believe me, I’d much rather think about asparagus than E. coli.

Anyway, there are endless variations to seasoning roasted asparagus. A drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of sea salt makes a lovely, simple seasoning. Or you can get a little fancier with Parmesan cheese, garlic, and lemon juice. It’s so easy to experiment! The amounts I’m giving here are just a starting point, I don’t really measure these ingredients anymore. You can also roast zucchini in a similar same way. Roasted vegetables are the perfect side dish for almost any meal.

 

Roasted Asparagus

1 lb or so asparagus (one bunch)
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese
1-2 cloves minced garlic (or you can omit the salt and fresh garlic and use a teaspoon or so of garlic salt)
dash or two sea salt
dash or two ground pepper
lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 425° F. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray or spread a little oil on it. Toss the asparagus (washed, with the tough ends snapped off) with all the ingredients except the lemon juice. Spread the asparagus over the baking sheet in a single layer.

Bake 8-10 minutes. Check after 8 minutes–pierce one stalk with a fork to check and cook a few more minutes until the asparagus reaches your desired tenderness. (8 minutes is usually perfect for me.) Drizzle the lemon juice over the asparagus when it’s done.

Mini Zucchini Fritters

I love the farmers market. But then again, who doesn’t? This summer it’s become a Saturday morning (late morning if we’re being exact) tradition for me and my housemate. We wander the market for awhile: admire the piles of luscious red raspberries and plump blackberries, heaps of pearly white onions, bunches of fresh greens and herbs, piles of tomatoes, corn, watermelon, and zucchini, drool over the homemade cupcakes and breads, take in all the smells (do I want Egyptian falafel or a sweet onion sausage for lunch?) people-watch (Wing loves pointing out the cutest dogs to me, while I point out and describe the personality of all the kids who go to the daycare where I work during the year), and then finally make the difficult decision of what to buy. As a nearly-broke college student, I can’t buy every single berry and melon I see, even though I would very much like to. Some difficult decisions have to be made.

And last week was a week of zucchini. Relatively cheap, delicious, and versatile–the perfect choice. Zucchini was the side dish of choice for several days: roasted zucchini, zucchini fries (I haven’t found a share-able recipe for these yet, but I’m working on it), and these awesome little fritters. They were so easy to make and were a very nice, crispy little side dish. You can also easily refrigerate the batter if you don’t want to make them all at once (especially if you’re only making them for two people, like I was).

The original recipe that I looked at serves these fritters with a goat cheese sauce. I adore goat cheese. I fell in love with it last summer, when I made one of the most things delicious things I have ever eaten in my life: goat cheese tarts with fresh blackberries (coming soon in a new post, I PROMISE!). The following fall while I was in Spain I ate it whenever I got the chance, usually topped with honey and pine nuts (more on Spain later as well!). Anyway, we were fresh out of goat cheese the day I made these zucchini fritters, so we made do serving them with plain yogurt, which was also very good. The other change I made was adding a little spice. I made half the batch for dinner one day without spice, then made the rest a few days later for lunch. The second time I decided that a little cayenne pepper just might add a perfect little kick of spiciness and make these fritters even better. And it did!

I’m looking forward to the farmers market this weekend—not only for more zucchini (I want to try zucchini bread this week), but also for the berries so I can finally make those goat cheese tarts again :)

Zucchini Fritters

Recipe adapted from Pinch of Yum

1 medium zucchini, grated
1/2 tsp salt
zest of 1 lemon
a handful of chopped parsley
2 chopped green onions
1 egg
a dash or two of pepper
1/2 cup flour
1/8 tsp-ish cayenne pepper (optional, amount varies depending on taste)
oil for frying
plain yogurt for serving

Grate the zucchini–just chop off the stem end and grate that thing! (I wasn’t sure how to best grate a zucchini, but after googling it it turned out to be a very easy job.) Mix all ingredients except the oil and yogurt together until they’re well-combined.  Heat oil (maybe 2-3 Tbsp, just enough to cover the skillet, add more as needed) in a large skillet on medium heat. Use a tablespoon to drop little rounded zucchini patties into the oil. Fry on each side until golden brown and crispy. Serve with yogurt on the side.