Second Post!

Well I didn't get home until late last night, so I just had leftover chicken from the other night...

But I did make asparagus, so let me write about that..

I got this receipe from cooksillustrated magazine: www.cooksillustrated.com

I highly recommend that magazine, it is the only one I buy and the reason is because it really goes into why a receipe works - what they did in their tests to come up with the final results. Very scientific, and you will be making receipes actually knowing why you are doing something instead of just what to do!

So here's a Basic Pan-Fried Asparagus receipe:

What you need:
Get some nice thin asparagus (thicker works fine too, just won't turn out as crisp)
1 Tablespoon butter (unsalted is better)
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
Kosher Salt and ground pepper to taste
Fresh Parmesean cheese (but you can use the processed stuff too)

What to do:
1) Cut ends off and wash asparagus (or just snap ends off where they break near the bottom)
2) Heat skillet over med-high heat, melt butter and mix in oil

• The reason of having both olive oil and butter in there is that you want butter as it will help to brown the asparagus, but butter has a low smoke point (where it starts to burn). Olive oil has a higher smoke point, and mixing it in allows the butter to get hotter than usual without it burning.

3) After pan is hot, place half of asparagus with head towards you, half of the asparagus with heads away from you in the pan. Sprinkle Kosher salt on top, pepper. Reduce heat to medium.
4) After 2-3 mins (depending on thickness of asparagus), place cover on pan and cook additional 2-3 mins.
5) Take off heat, sprinkle on parmesean cheese, serve!

Do not flip the asparagus, this will cause the one side to be a nice brown color, and the top side to be a nice bright green.

Thats it! Tates better than just steamed or boiled asparagus and looks great too!

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