Roasted Purple Asparagus

Grilled Purple Asparagus

I was given some beautiful purple asparagus yesterday from my friend Carl Skalak from Blue Pike Farm. I wanted to respect the ingredient but didn’t think I wanted to just and steam and eat it like I normally do. I asked for ideas and I got them. Lots of them. I ended up using a grill pan and incorporated a lot of what friends had suggested. I heated up the pan and drizzled the asparagus with olive oil and sprinkled it with coarse pink sea salt.  Because they were so big I waited to add sliced garlic. I didn’t want the garlic to burn before the asparagus was cooked.  I also grated some lemon zest on them. As they cook, purple asparagus turns green so I had an easy indicator for done-ness. I wanted them to still be crisp so I stopped cooking them when they were still a little purple. In a small pan I fried an egg I had also gotten from Carl. I used butter and did it over low heat. Once the egg was done I plated the asparagus and slid the egg on top. The asparagus was warm all the way through, but still was crisp. When I broke the egg yolk and it drizzled over the asparagus it was simply wonderful. Thanks for all the ideas. Divine!!!!

In the grill pan

Starting to change color

Finished off with a fried egg