Roasted Asparagus with Artichoke Heart “Sauce”

Plan Z Phase: This is a Z2 (ZReduction) and Zola To GO! recipe. This would also taste very good cold!

Servings: Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1-3/4 cups of asparagus spears. You’ll have to eyeball this one but about 4 thicker spears cut to 4” long or 6 skinny spears cut to 4” long
• sea salt
• ½ cup of artichoke hearts thoroughly rinsed, drained and chopped
• ¼ cup of veggie broth
• ½ tsp of garlic minced
• pepper
• lemon wedges

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

In a high heat oven proof pan put in your asparagus. Give it a teeny spritz of olive oil spray; just enough to wet it. Grate a generous amount of sea salt over the top. Put in your oven to roast. Thin asparagus will take about 10 minutes to roast. Thicker pieces can take up to 15 minutes to roast. You want it a bit crisp when it comes out of the oven–or cook to your specifications.

While the asparagus is roasting…

In a small sauté pan add the chopped artichoke hearts. Then add the garlic and vegetable broth.  Heat and toss around. Then season with grated sea salt and pepper.

Serve your asparagus with a narrow strip of artichoke hearts across the top. ¼ cup of hearts per serving.

Leftovers of artichoke hearts keep well in the refrigerator.

Serve this with a simple small filet or grilled chicken breast for a wonderful meal. Don’t forget you can have a plain salad too.

Zola’s Bonus Idea: Make a bit of an anti-pasti tray with these and celery sticks as well as sea salt roasted green beans and sautéed red pepper strips and even steamed asparagus spears dusted with fresh ground pepper. Even your dinner guests can eat like you on Plan Z.  In Z3 you can put all of these on a try with chunks of cheese of various types and have a field day as an appetizer course.

Enjoy!

Cheers,