Parmesan garlic grilled asparagus

Quick and easy, this great grilled side dish comes together with a few simple ingredients. Pair it with burgers, grilled chicken, or pork chops for a weeknight summer-time meal. 

Grilled asparagus has been one of my go-to veggies for years now. It's easy, it's tasty, it's good for you. 

Just toss with some garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper and throw it on the grill. Unless you really char them, you can't go wrong.

My friend, Lynn, suggested the addition of Parmesan, so I gave it a shot and, as you might have guessed, it's even better this way. You've got the partly sweet, partly savory, nearly impossible to define, but very tasty (unless you're Japanese and then you apparently call it "umami") asparagus flavor, and the garlic plus a little bit of salty, rich, melty cheese. 

And don't forget that it's super easy. At this point in our lives, it has to be super easy or I can't make it. 

Grilled asparagus with garlic & Parmesan cheese
Serves 4 as a side dish

1 bunch asparagus

2 garlic cloves, peeled and pressed or minced

3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese (you can also use Romano, Locatelli, etc., any salty, hard cheese would work)

2-3 tablespoons olive oil

Sea salt to taste

Black pepper to taste

1. Wash the asparagus and snap the woody ends off (you'll feel where you should snap when you bend them a bit) and place them in a large bowl. Preheat the grill and give it a good scrape to clean it.

2. While the grill is heating up, toss the asparagus with all the other ingredients until well-coated. 

3. Lower the flame to medium and lay the asparagus spears crosswise to avoid dropping any through the grill. Cover and grill for about 5 minutes, turning often to prevent them from burning. Grilling times will depend somewhat on how powerful your grill is and also on the size of the asparagus.