St. Patrick’s Day is coming up this week so I went through my recipes to see if I had anything green I can post, and I found a recipe for roasted asparagus I had made a few weeks ago. It is just a veggie side dish, so if you are looking for something a little more green and festive for St. Paddy’s Day, I like to make St. Patrick’s Day Green Eggs for breakfast every year. I use spinach to dye the eggs green so it adds both extra nutrients and fun!

Anyways, asparagus is a great vegetable. It is one of my go to side veggies when making fish. For some reason I love salmon with roasted asparagus and mashed potatoes…the flavors and textures just seem to go together.

Asparagus is full of many nutrients such as fiber (good for staying regular and feeling full), Vitamin A (good for your eye health and immune system) and folic acid (super important for pregnant ladies). It is super easy to cook, you can steam, roast or saute it, and although it does have a strong flavor you can still season it in very different ways. A lot of times I just use olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper which is fresh and super simple, but recently I have been adding a few different flavors…hence this new recipe today, which I think make become my new go to asparagus recipe.

Balsamic Roasted Asparagus

Ingredients

1/2 Pound Fresh Asparagus (about 20 stalks)

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

1/8 Teaspoon Sea Salt

1/8 Teaspoon Pepper

1/2 Teaspoon Minced Garlic

1 Tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar

Directions

Preheat over to 400 degrees. Rinse off asparagus and chop off bottom tough ends of stalks. Spread cleaned asparagus out in in a glass baking dish. Mix oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and garlic in a small bowl and drizzle over asparagus. Toss to evenly coat and then spread out asparagus in a single layer for even cooking. Cook in oven for 15 minutes. Remove and drizzle balsamic vinegar over asparagus. Place back in oven and cook for an additional ten minutes or until asparagus reaches desired tenderness.