This is a New York Times recipe. It serves four as a side or two as a main course. I am on the lookout for recipes that call for ingredients that are new-ish to me, like miso. Off topic, a Lebanese corner grocery just opened a few blocks away, and they sell a coffee flavored with cardamon that is to die for. They also carried sumac spice which I needed for a Mussakhan (roast chicken, I used faux chicken, it tasted but looked yucky).

Ingredients

• 1½ pounds asparagus, woody ends trimmed
• 1 tablespoon plus ⅓ cup olive oil
• Fine sea salt
• ⅓ cup Castelvetrano pitted green olives plus 1 tablespoon brine, olives crushed with the palm of your hand then finely chopped
• 1½ – 3 tablespoons pine nuts
• 1 tablespoon white miso
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon dill finely chopped

Directions

Heat a grill pan over high heat.

Season the asparagus with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and ⅛ teaspoon salt. Grill in two batches for 3 to 5 minutes on each side, or until tender and charred. Transfer to a serving plate once cooked.

Add the olives, pine nuts and the remaining ⅓ cup oil to a small saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, for 7 minutes, until the pine nuts have turned golden brown. Carefully whisk in the miso, lemon juice and olive brine.

Pour the sauce over the asparagus and sprinkle the dill on top.

Nutrition per serving:

• Not a clue – the oil and the olives can’t be great, but the rest seems okay.
• Elliecoo Rating: ★★★★★