The Big Giant Food Basket: Pan Roasted Asparagus with Sauteed Red Onion and Crispy Bacon

June 12, 2013

Pan Roasted Asparagus with Sauteed Red Onion and Crispy Bacon

A few weeks ago my sweet hubby bought for me the mega book Cook's Illustrated Cookbook. Now I honestly had not had the chance to sit down with the book and really peruse through it, but last night I picked it up and began looking at asparagus recipes. For some reason I have been hording asparagus and my vegetable crisper is now totally bursting with it. So in an effort to use it up, I went through the book looking for some new variations of pan roasted asparagus and came across this recipe. Hey all you have to do is mention the word bacon and I am there! So today I picked up the ingredients and gave this recipe a whirl.

Ingredients you will need...

5 strips of bacon cut into small pieces

1 large red onion cut in half and sliced thin

2 T balsamic vinegar

2 T maple syrup

salt and pepper to taste

1 lb thin asparagus, trimmed

cooking spray

Lowreys Seasoned salt

Cook bacon in 12 inch pan until crispy, about 5-7 minutes. Remove bacon and let it drain on some paper towel. Drain off all but one tablespoon of grease from the pan and toss in the onion. Cook onion for about 4 minutes or until it becomes soft then add the balsamic vinegar and syrup. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

In an effort to keep the calories down I decided to use cooking spray instead of the butter and olive oil in the original recipe. Spray clean pan with cooking spray and add the asparagus. Sprinkle with the Lowery's seasoned salt and cook asparagus uniformly in pan until asparagus turns a bright green, about 5-6 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Now here I departed from the recipe by cutting my asparagus into 1- 1 1/2 in pieces. Toss the asparagus with the onion mixture. Serve warm or at room temperature.