Asparagus Candy

I'm not much for the sweets.  Posts on desserts seem to be the most popular.  Too bad, that's not what I'm all about.  I like to chat about food that's approachable.  Entrees and sides and soups and sandwiches and appetizers and drinks that you can cook even if you're not a foodie.  Yes, I've got a bit of a sweet tooth.  But, it's easily satisfied by a Hershey's kiss on occasion.  Or, even a couple of M&M's.  I know.  I'm strange.  Connie tells me that all the time.  But, you know what?  His taste is just about the same as mine.  We both LOVE anchovies.  Cheese, be still my heart.  We both eat about any vegetable.  Favorites are roasted broccoli, eggplant involtini and roasted cauliflower.  Asparagus is right up there but this time of year, it's expensive.  So, this recipe had to sound pretty daggone good to make me open the old wallet for a $6 bunch of asparagus.

We try to go to the wine dinners at Agio each month.  Agio is a locally owned restaurant.  Our favorite kind.  Their profits stay right here in Indy.  We know the chef and recognize most of the staff.  The chef, Joseph, is brilliant.  And, the wine dinners are VERY affordable.  The kind of entertainment we enjoy.  One of the things we tend to do is go just by ourselves.  This means we get seated with another couple or two - who in most cases we've never met.  One of our favorite couples was Kit and Anne.  Nice folks and a lot of fun to talk to.  This time we sat with Mark and Alora.  Talk about fun.  Well, we're already invited to their anniversary party on July 4th and they're invited to our holiday party next January.  We very much enjoyed spending an evening with them.  And, the dinner was, as usual, magnificent.  They're foodies and we're foodies.  Guess what we talked about?  Food and grandkids.  Grandkids and food.  Alora told me that one of their favorite vegetables was Asparagus Candy.  It sounded so good I had to make it.

Guess, what?  It was great.  I wanted to lick the plate and get every morsel of that balsamic butter.  I think I put a little too little balsamic in the butter.  Next time I'll pour a bit more.  But, overall, wow this was good.  Thank you Alora and Mark!!!

Asparagus Candy

Ingredients:
asparagus
olive oil
butter
balsamic vinegar (we used fig balsamic - thank you Liz!)

Directions:
Toss the asparagus with a little olive oil and roast it at 500 for about 20 minutes.  While it is roasting, brown some butter. 

I used about 2T for a small bunch of asparagus. 

Just as the asparagus comes out of the oven, pour some balsamic vinegar into the browned butter.  It'll sizzle and pop and caramelize. 

Plate the asparagus. Pour the browned butter over the asparagus.  We served it with beef tenderloin sprinkled with black truffle salt and mushroom truffle risotto.  One of those meals you just don't want to end!