Baked or Grilled Garlic Asparagus

In the summertime, one of the best vegetable side dishes you can serve with a steak is grilled asparagus. It's so easy to cook, and when done right, tastes so delicious. This simple recipe all pair wonderfully with your favourite slow carb recipes, especially steak or chicken recipes. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Ingredients

• Asparagus stalks (bend them near the root end, and where they naturally crack, you can cut and dispose of the bottoms)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• a few cloves of garlic (to taste)
• 2 tsp dried rosemary
• salt and pepper (to taste)

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 400 F.
2. Crush/dice the garlic.
3. Mix the seasonings and garlic into the olive oil in a small bowl.
4. Place the asparagus on a baking tray, and spoon the olive oil mixture over it. Move around to try to coat as much as possible.
5. Cover the baking tray with a lid or aluminum foil, and bake for about 10 minutes. This will help steam the asparagus.
6. After 10 minutes, remove the lid/foil and continue baking for another 5-10 minutes to crisp the edges of the asparagus and garlic. For faster browning, you can try using the broiler for a few minutes, but pay close attention to it!

Options and recommendations

As an alternative to baking in the oven (especially in the hot summer weather!), I love cooking my asparagus on the grill alongside my steaks. You can toss the vegetables with the olive oil mixture ahead of time, and then place the stalks individually on a cooler section of the BBQ. If you do this method, you might also want to consider using an oil with a higher smoke point, as olive oil tends to burn at the high temps of your grill. Try a bit of canola oil or grapeseed oil if you wish!

Poached Eggs with Asparagus

This recipe for poached eggs with asparagus makes a very light meal which would be perfect for a slow carb diet, or any diet for that matter.  It would make a great breakfast that doesn't take very long at all to prepare.  For the hard core slow carb dieters, you could very easily add a portion of your favorite slow carb legume to the plate and have a very satisfying and filling breakfast.  This feels like a meal best prepared on a sunny spring morning using fresh asparagus and free range eggs, and then eaten out on a patio.

Ingredients:

• A bunch of asparagus
• Eggs, as many as you like (I prefer free range, with the deep yellow yolk!)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Bend the asparagus and discard the ends where they naturally break.
2. To a frying pan, add a small amount of water and boil.
3. At the same time, fill a pot of water and set to a low boil.
4. Add the asparagus to the water, and cover to steam for 4 or 5 minutes (until they are nicely softened but not mushy).
5. Meanwhile, to the lightly boiling / simmering pot of water, gently break the eggs into the water.  Allow to cook for 2-4 minutes.  
• Perfect poached eggs will still have a runny yellow yolk, before it has begun to become hard-boiled.  This may take some practice.  The amount of time depends on how hot the water is.  Also, if it is rapidly boiling, the bubbles with turn the uncooked egg into a giant mess.  No boiling!
• Some people prefer to break an egg into a bowl and then gently pouring the egg into the water.  Also, some people recommend adding a shot of white vinegar to the water, as the acidity helps to keep the egg together.
• An obviously easier way it to get a set of egg poachers.  :-)
6. Remove the asparagus from the pan and distribute to breakfast plates.
7. Scoop out the eggs with a slotted spoon and serve over top of the asparagus.
8. Season with salt and pepper to your taste.
9. Serve alongside a helping of black beans, or other slow carb diet staples.