[ratings]

This is a great side dish that complements pasta dishes very well and really brings out the asparagus flavor with a light hint of garlic.

Total time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoons butter
• 1 pound (1 package) green asparagus
• 2 large clove garlic (finely chopped)
• pepper

Directions

1. Clean the asparagus under cold water. For each of the asparagus grab the middle of the stem with one hand and lightly bend the bottom end of the asparagus with the other hand. You’ll feel that the bottom is very hard, and there is a well-defined point where the asparagus is more flexible. It is at this point that you want to break the asparagus in two, the top half is the part we want to keep for this recipe. See cook’s notes below for what you can do with the bottom half.
2. Melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat.
3. Add the chopped garlic and stir for about 1 minute.
4. Add the asparagus and cook for about 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. You may need more or less time depending on the size of your asparagus. for this recipe I prefer thin – ¼-inch thick asparagus which cook quickly. Do not overcook the asparagus as it will lose its crunchiness.
5. Season with freshly ground pepper just before serving.

Cook’s Notes

1. As part of preparing this recipe, you will be left with about two dozen asparagus ends. You can use these hard parts of the asparagus to make soup. In some cases you may need to use a vegetable peeler to get the stringy parts off.

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