Summer is almost here and it’s time for fresh veggies! I love to prepare asparagus in my cast iron pan. This way of cooking preserves the vegetable’s natural crunchiness and adds a deliciously oily sear/char that brings our the earthy grass flavor that asparagus is so well known for.

Three ingredients are all you need. Really good stone-ground mustard, garlic, and asparagus - let me show you how to make this recipe in less than 10 minutes.

Let’s get to cooking!

Prep:

• Prep time: 3 minutes

• Cook time: < 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch of asparagus

• 3 cloves chopped garlic

• 2 tbsp stone ground mustard (I prefer the stone ground for its grainier texture and milder mustard flavor profile)

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• salt/pepper to taste

Recipe:

When it comes to recipes where I need a few ingredients to shine center stage, I like to invest in some high-quality ingredients. One such staple for my kitchen is getting a really good olive oil that you can use for special recipes and as a finishing oil. So keeping that in mind, a really nice dijon or stone ground mustard will level this recipe up. I prefer to use stone-ground mustard because of its coarser texture and milder, and balanced sour and spicy profile vs a dijon that is finer ground, sharper, and bursting with flavor. The prep for this recipe is simple, wash and trim the asparagus.

Protip: Bend an asparagus stem closer to the bottom end until it snaps. The spot where it snaps is exactly where the fibrous stringy texture of the asparagus starts. Discard the end and use that asparagus to roughly measure and cut the rest.

Heat the cast iron pan on medium-high and get it nice and hot. When ready, add the olive oil and as soon as it reaches its smoking point, throw in the asparagus.

Toss the asparagus until it’s nicely coated. You can refer to my blistered shishito recipe. Very similar to blistering, I toss the asparagus every 20-30 seconds so I get a nice even sear on all over.

I love cooking asparagus like peppers because a) you preserve that good crunchy freshness and vibrancy of veggies and b) you get a nice and smokey sear that you really want in a simple recipe like this where it’s all about the main ingredient.

3 minutes into cooking, add the garlic and toss it around for another minute or so. Now throw in the stone ground mustard and give it a nice toss. Crack salt/pepper to taste, garnish with chopped parsley if you’d like. Enjoy just as is, or with a steak or whatever you want to be honest. Enjoy!