Roasted Asparagus with Garlic

Ingredients

• 1 lb. thick asparagus spears
• 1/2 cup large whole peeled garlic cloves
• 3 T olive oil
• salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste

Directions

Snap off the end of one piece of asparagus by holding in one half and bending until it snaps (to see where the woody part of the stem starts.) Then trim all the pieces of asparagus to that size.Then cut trimmed asparagus pieces in half again; I like to cut on the diagonal.Measure desired amount of whole garlic cloves, using large cloves as much as possible, and cut the garlic cloves in half. (If some garlic cloves are a lot smaller keep them whole so that all the pieces of garlic are roughly the same size.Put the asparagus pieces and garlic cloves into a Ziploc bag with the olive oil and let the asparagus marinate with the garlic for about 2 hours. (Marinating longer than that is fine too.)When it’s time to cook, preheat the oven to 450F/230C.Quickly drain the asparagus and garlic, letting some olive oil remain for roasting.Place asparagus and garlic on a large baking sheet, arranging so the ingredients are in a single layer as much as possible.Roast about 15 minutes, or until asparagus is starting to slightly soften and garlic is barely starting to get some browned edges. (Don’t let the garlic get too brown or it will start to taste bitter.)Season with salt and fresh-ground black pepper and serve hot.