Roasting asparagus is my favourite way cooking these delicate spears, too. Luckily, I've never had to deal with the tough and stringy ones, but I'll keep Alanna's use-fat-spears-for-roasting tip in mind.
The asparagus season is still to come here in Estonia, but it shouldn't be more than a fortnight now :)

I love asparagus! And I'm lucky enough to have a 13 year old daughter who loves it too. We are the only ones in the house who eat it though. My favorite way to cook it is on the grill. A little salt and olive oil, and a few minutes on the grill is all you need. This looks like a great rainy day technique, so I will be trying it soon. thanks!

This is my favorite way to make asparagus. The flavor is amazing! And thanks for the tip about the smaller ones, that has happened to me before. I love your website, and the recipes are all so wonderful!

Here's a new tip: instead of discarding the woody ends, use them to make asparagus soup! I served this asparagus soup to my dad last night, he went back for seconds!

We did something similar with the pods from spring peas. After shucking the peas, we steamed the pods, ran them through a blender, added a little chicken stock, cream, and seasoning. Very tasty. ~Elise

My kids have been happy to eat asparagus and any other veggie roasted at 400 degrees for 10 minutes! Green beans w/ mushrooms (add soy sauce instead of lemon juice), zucchini, squash, baby tomatoes....

I just love roasted asparagus; it's my favourite spring vegetable! Thanks for sharing, Elise!

My favorite way to eat asparagus! I always go for the fat ones!

Another suggestion- you can just cut off about an inch of the ends, and then take a vegetable peeler and trim down the stems a little. You get more of the asparagus and it takes away the toughness of the vegetable.

This is definetly my favorite way to cook asparagus! A few minutes before they are done, I'll to pull them out and drizzle some balsamic vinegar on it then pop them back in to finish cooking. It almost carmelizes the balsamic to add some great flavour. I always make extra for toppings on pizza, salads or the easiest soup recipe: simply blend extra asparagus with enough chicken broth to get the texture right, and add a splash of lemon juice or dollop of butter. I always just eyeball it and it comes out great.

I do one of two things with my asparagus; I let it marinate in lime juice for 5 minutes, grill, then squeeze a bit more on with some sea salt and pepper for a nice fresh dish with some bite.

If I don't have limes, I just grill them and then set out a small bowl of good balsamic to dip them in, using my fingers of course.

Asparagus rules! This time of the year I make a lot of different asparagus dishes, and roasting them is a favorite. I let mine marinate in the refrigerator overnight with olive oil, minced garlic, fresh thyme, and lemon zest. I roast them and then drizzle them with lemon vinaigrette before serving

Roasted asparagus using sesame oil in place of olive oil, a drizzle of lemon juice & some sesame seeds tossed on in the last minute to toast up is my favourite springtime snack :]

Yum!

We like to put them in a dish, drizzle in olive oil and roast (sometimes we thinly slice onion and roast it with the asparagus), and then toss with lemon juice, chopped dill, salt, and pepper.

One of my favorites as well. My first June get together always features a platter of cold Catalan-style herb dressed grilled vegetables with asparagus spears as the star.

One thing to consider is that the tough ends are not tough throughout. If you cut the stalk just above the white part and peel the lower stem from about three inches above with a veggie peeler, all of the hard, woody stuff is removed and there is succulent eating in there (hats off to Lori). I'd also avoid buying really thick stalks as, like zucchini, they are tough and dry.

I also recommend using grapeseed oil for preparation and grilling. Marinating should be for about five minutes if you use an acid like vinegar or lemon juice. Save the marinade for drizzling on at serving time. Also,save your quality olive oil, pressed garlic, chopped herbs and maybe a dash of freshly minced lemon zest for tossing in right before serving.

Drizzled with Blood Orange juice. Mmmm, sooo good.

People often say that asparagus is a difficult food to pair with wine. If you want a great wine that pairs perfectly with asparagus (including the recipe in this post), try a Tocai Friulano. Not surprisingly, Friuli is one of the top asparagus producers of Italy. Read about the history here if you want more info.

Kalyn does a similar thing, but roughly chunks up the garlic and marinates the garlic with the asparagus for a couple hours. It is awesome, as I'm sure this way is! I've found even an hour of marinating while you get the rest of dinner prepped and cooked (yeah, I'm a slow cook) really makes a big difference.

That is pretty much the same roasting recipe that I always use when roasting asparagus. So delicious! My favorite way to prepare asparagus. :)