March 01, 2005

Bacon Wrapped Asparagus Spears

I have always been fond of asparagus. Until I tried this recipe, I had always stuck with the canned spears - I'm not particularly fond of "crisp" asparagus, so steaming really didn't do much for me. I saw an episode of "30 Minute Meals" with Rachael Ray - she did bacon-wrapped asparagus bundles. I had a slight variation on this theme by individually wrapping the spears in bacon and grilling them. Here's my recipe:

Ingredients

1 bundle of fresh asparagus
center cut bacon
EVOO to coat
salt and pepper to taste
juice of one lemon

Instructions

Snap the tough ends off the asparagus spears (they will give in the right place as you bend the spear). Coat with EVOO. Count the number of spears, and use enough bacon to allow for 1/2 strip of bacon to be wrapped around each spear. Wrap as tight as you can (I chose thin sliced bacon for this - it stretched a bit and remained snug). Season with salt and pepper. Place on hot grill, cooking until bacon is crisp and spears are tender. Toward end of cooking time, hit with the juice of the lemon.

I served this with country style BBQ pork ribs and baked potatoes. Very tasty!