Grilled Parmesan Asparagus {Naptime Everyday}

What’s Going on Today: Grilling Season kick-off!

You know you live in the Northeast when the first day of grilling is a family event. My husband and I are grilling fanatics and although we technically could grill all year long (frostbite is no biggy, right?), we save our tried and true grilling days for summer. This year our first grilling feast happened to coincide with the beginning of asparagus season so we decided to combine two of our favorite spring food events for a little grilled experiment.

Ina Garten’s roast asparagus with Parmesan is one of our all-time favorite ways to make asparagus so I decided to see if I could translate that to the grill. We usually grill asparagus raw without any prior marinating. If the heat is medium-low the thick stalks cook through without blistering too much. For my new recipe we grilled the asparagus over indirect medium heat and drizzled it with a spritz of lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and Parmesan after it had been transferred to a platter. The Parmesan melted instantly over the smokey hot asparagus. We didn’t return it to the grill to melt further like in Ina’s oven roasted version. Instead we just let the heat of the freshly cooked vegetables take care of that.

We loved the final result from our grilled asparagus experiment. In short order the raw asparagus was cooked through, tender, and sweet. The salty Parmesan provided just the right contrast to the blistered asparagus skin. I can already tell you this will be added to our roster of favorite grilling recipes this summer. Let the season begin!