And there are only five ingredients.
Dotdash Meredith/Janet Maples
We love spring. Not only because it means warmer weather and blooming flowers, but also because some of our favorite produce is back in season. Of course, things like peas, strawberries, and asparagus are available year-round, but there’s nothing better than biting into a particularly fresh, flavorful fruit or vegetable during peak season.
Lately, we’ve been specializing in asparagus, trying to crack the code to make roasted asparagus taste like it does in a restaurant. Of course, we love our own recipe for oven-roasted asparagus, topped with lemon juice and Parmesan cheese. But let’s leave it to the queen of comfort food, Ina Garten, to steal the show with her five-ingredient asparagus recipe that’s so delicious, you’ll be running to the store to buy asparagus today.
Ina Garten’s asparagus recipe with 5 ingredients
Garten recently shared her recipe for Roasted Asparagus with Cacio e Pepe on Instagram as part of her Passover menu. However, the recipe is nothing new to Garten fans, as it was originally published on her website, Barefoot Contessa, in 2020.
The five-ingredient recipe transforms an everyday green vegetable into a flavorful dish reminiscent of cacio e pepe pasta. Garten must love the simple taste of the buttery, cheesy pasta because she draws inspiration from the Italian dish to make her Jennifer Garner-loved scrambled eggs, too.
To make Garten’s Roasted Asparagus “Cacio e Pepe,” you’ll need thick asparagus spears, unsalted butter (a good time to opt for Garten’s favorite Cabot brand), pecorino cheese, parmesan cheese, lemon, and salt and pepper.
The good news is that Garten uses some of our restaurant tricks to make her roasted asparagus perfect. First, she cooks the asparagus in a high-temperature oven at 450°F, which browns the asparagus and develops a more complex flavor. She also doesn’t use tons of butter or oil. Too much oil can cause the asparagus to become limp and greasy instead of buttery, crispy, and tender spears.
Finally, the addition of cheese and lemon juice gives the asparagus that special something. The zesty lemon adds a fresh note to the earthy vegetable, while the cheese adds a melting, nutty and spicy flavor. Everything tastes better with cheese, right?
Garten’s easy asparagus side dish is the versatile dish you need to have on your menu this spring and summer. It goes well with most main dishes—like chicken, steak, and fish—but with that special cacio e pepe flair, it tastes especially good with an Italian dish like chicken schnitzel or stuffed mussels.
In our case, however, it may not even make it out of the casserole dish.
Read the original article on All Recipes.
