Truly homegrown...and delicious!

On Mother's Day we took a trip out to Tulsa to see my dad's mom and my mom's side of the family. My dad's mom still lives in the house where he grew up. Bixby is just outside of Tulsa and it is where my parents grew up, fell in love and got married! I LOVE Bixby. It's a small town and I love that it's my parents hometown. Because of the sod in the area, Bixby has the most fragrant air...it just feels like home to me. Anyhoo, we stopped at Conrad Farms Market, a place that I'm certain has been there since my parents were kids. It's run by the Conrad family and although it's about as simple a store as you could get, it houses the most wonderful local gems! Mom and I always want to stop there when we make a trip out to Bixby. We picked up some fresh strawberries, radishes, mom got some jam (made in Missouri) and we each picked out the prize of the day--homegrown, fresh asparagus. It doesn't get much better than this, folks. I had never tried locally grown asparagus before...and...it...was...heaven. Here is how I decided to cook it last night:

Asparagus with Browned Butter Balsamic Sauce

30 spears of fresh asparagus
2 t low sodium soy sauce
2 t balsamic vinegar
2 T unsalted butter
1/4 t minced garlic (optional)
kosher salt
fresh black pepper
cooking spray (or evoo)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Wash and pat dry the asparagus, snap off the bottom of the stalk (asparagus 'gives' very easily where it naturally breaks). Lay out the asparagus on a sheet pan and coat with cooking spray, kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cook for about 12 minutes.

In the meantime, brown the butter in a pan, maybe for 3 minutes, occasionally shaking the pan to move it around. In a bowl, combine the soy sauce, vinegar and garlic. Slowly whisk in the browned butter. Pour the sauce over the cooked asparagus.

I served this with brown rice and it was DIVINE. The asparagus was tender and delicate...this is why homegrown is always best!!