Now, the important thing about asparagus is not to overthink it.
Just grab whatever asparagus you can find at the store. For roasting, thicker is better—it won't get too soft and floppy too quickly.
After you wash the asparagus thoroughly, just stack a bunch together and lop off the tough/thick bottom inch or so. Some people get fancy and peel the bottom, but I can’t be bothered with such things.
Besides, if you get a tough bite later, you can just spit it into your napkin. You'll be around family.
Spread out the asparagus in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Pat it as dry as you can, as you don't want any water to "steam" the asparagus in the oven.
Begin by generously drizzling olive oil all over the asparagus. For this amount of asparagus, I probably used a good four or five tablespoons. Don't skimp!
Do you get tired of my saying "don't skimp?" Because I pretty much say it at least once in every recipe.
After that, sprinkle the asparagus generously with kosher salt.
(You can use regular salt, too. But kosher is more forgiving.)
Next, really go to town with the freshly ground black pepper.
Freshly ground is really best for this dish.
Now just pop the pan into a preheated 425-degree oven and roast the asparagus for about ten minutes. The secret here is for the oven to be very hot so the asparagus can begin to brown on the outside without overcooking and getting too flimsy. You want the finished asparagus to still have a bite to it.
Here they are after roasting. It's a little hard to tell, but the areas where the asparagus touched the pan are nice and brown. And the doneness was just perfect—they were definitely tender without being mushy or too floppy.
A huge platter of this is a beautiful, delicious addition to any dinner table.
But the real beauty comes the next day, when you eat them cold out of the fridge.
It's the stuff that vegetable-related dreams are made of.
