Asparagus with Roasted Garlic Aioli

At the end of winter, as spring is just beginning, before the raspberries and blueberries and apricots and plums, there was asparagus.  And weeks ago, with the first asparagus of the season, I made this dish.  And then somehow managed to forget about it until I realized, just recently, that I hadn't seen asparagus at the farmer's market recently.

So here is a great asparagus recipe, after asparagus season is over.  Don't want to wait 9 months to try this? Grocery stores have asparagus for much longer than the farmer's markets, so you should still be able to find it.

This is only the second time I've made homemade mayonnaise, and for a girl who's not much of a mayo-eater, I gobbled this up.  Roasting gives the asparagus a crispy outer layer, and creamy aioli is the perfect complement.  

I used hardneck garlic for this recipe (pictured below), which I definitely recommend if you can find it!  Otherwise, a small head of softneck garlic would work too. 

So here is a little dose of spring, in the middle of summer.

Asparagus with Roasted Garlic Aioli

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound of asparagus, ends trimmed

1 tbsp olive oil

Sea salt

Ground pepper

1 head garlic

1 tsp olive oil

1 egg yolk

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp mustard

2 tsp white wine vinegar

2/3 cup canola oil

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Toss asparagus with 1 tbsp olive oil, sea salt and ground pepper, and place it in a roasting pan. Cut the top of the head of garlic off so that each bulb is partially exposed. Pour 2 tsp olive oil over the head of garlic and place in a ramekin in the oven. Roast the garlic and asparagus for 10-15 minutes, turning the asparagus once, until the asparagus is cooked through and crispy on the edges. Remove the asparagus, and roast the garlic for another 25-30 minutes, or until tender. Set aside and allow to cool to room temperature.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together egg yolk, salt, mustard and vinegar. Slowly, whisk in a few drops of the canola oil at a time, beating thoroughly to incorporate. While continually whisking, add canola oil a tablespoon at a time, and eventually add the oil in a thin stream until it's entirely incorporated.

With a sharp knife, separate the garlic bulbs from their skins and mince the garlic bulbs. Whisk the minced garlic into the mayonnaise. Serve alongside the roasted asparagus as a side dish or light snack.

Serves 2-3.