Grilled Asparagus - How To Grill Asparagus Like Restaurants

It never failed. Everytime we cooked vegetables at home the kids would never eat them. I can't say I blame them much as I was never one for vegetables growing up myself. We'd try different things, make different ones, and they'd just not budge. We even tried to make cauliflower mashed potatoes once to trick them into eating vegetables but they figured that one out all too quickly. Then one day came and we went out to one of our local 'raunts and since the boy was getting older we let him order his first "restaurant steak"! Quite the treat for him, he had graduated from the kid menu! Only catch was he had to have the vegetable instead of french fries as that's what big boys do. Hesitation was only slight and he tredged forward knowing that he was getting the big plate. To our surprise when the waiter asked him what choice of veggie he wanted after giving him the lowdown on the him, he chose asparagus.

I thought for a moment and said to myself, oh this should be good, no way will he ever eat that. After the waiter left I asked him why he chose asparagus and his reply was because it sounded funny and a funny vegetable should be better to eat than a not so funny one.

Time passed and our plates were brought, I helped him cut his steak and noticed the smell of the grilled asparagus, they smelled wonderful. I cut a few pieces of asparagus for him as well and reminded him of the "veggie deal". Much to our surprise that's where he started, I guess he just wanted to get them done before hand so he could enjoy his steak in peace. He commented after his first bite that they were really good and kept eating them. I couldn't believe it. The only thing we had to do to get him to eat his vegetables is buy him a $20 steak, but there was no way I could support that type of "healthy eating" with a family of 5 every night. I thought he was just putting us on so I tried them myself, they were delicious.

That night, everybody tried his asparagus and loved it! Thus began my quest to figure out the secret to perfect grilled asparagus.

Before we left the restaurant that evening, I asked the waiter how they cooked that asparagus. He responded "On the grill". Well, duh. I prodded him further but he didn't have a clue. I asked if I could talk to the chef and he said he'd see and left. A little while later the chef came to the table and skipping all the small talk I just asked him point blank, "How do you grill asparagus"? He laughed and said "Why, was it good?" Of course it was! After a little forced small talk, he gave me the secret, virgin olive oil and kosher salt. I couldn't believe it, had to be something else in there. But there wasn't he assured me.

Cooking asparagus on the grill has become quite the obsession in my household since. We eat it now with practically everything that we do grill. It's become a staple to any type of meat we decide to put on the old bar-b-que pit. I took the chef's ingredients and threw them into a recipe so that even my kids can cook it when they want some. Here goes:

Super Simple Grilled Asparagus Recipe:

• 1 bunch of asparagus
• extra virgin olive oil
• kosher salt (not the regular stuff)

Preparation: Put the asparagus bunch in a large bowl. Coat with the extra virgin olive oil. Lay them out on a grilling tray to be able to put the asparagus on the grill. Drizzle kosher salt over the asparagus (I don't measure, I just put enough on that I like - you should do the same).

The Kosher salt makes all the difference here, that's where you get that restaurant quality taste. If you use ordinary regular table salt it will not be the same.

Grilling Asparagus:

Make sure the grill is hot. The other key is a hot grill. I cook them on the bottom rack just over the flame. How long do you grill asparagus? I only grill them for about 5-8 minutes turning them only once. It will leave crisp grilling marks on them that are quite tasty that I like. Depending on your grill, just use your judgement as to when to pick them off, but remember they don't take a long time to cook. You still want them to be a little crunchy and not soft.

To do this right, I've listed the ingredients and tools required just below: