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 :)

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!

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....

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.

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.

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 :]

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.

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.

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

I hope that I would have found this blog before yesterday afternoon, I ruined quite nice punch of asparagus, white one's, by trying to boil them first time in my life. I have used to hate asparagus due to fact that I have eaten fresh asparagus only twice and others have been horrible canned stuff, white's usually. But, I have liked green asparagus, so im going to get new ones (green one's). I will cook them like your recipe, with lemon chiken ;) I got very inspired last night when I found my self here while looking asparagus recipes.

Thanks for this recipe. I just received a bunch of asparagus and spring garlic in my CSA and I had no idea what to do with either. I found this blog when looking for asparagus recipes and decided to give it a try. I loved it! I used the spring garlic instead of regular garlic and sprinkled a little freshly grated Parmesan cheese after the asparagus was done. It was delightful.