Gourmet Tin Foil Dinner: Roasted Asparagus

For some reason asparagus always seems so incredibly fancy, far too fancy for campfire cooking. But, this turned out so amazingly delicious I can’t see myself ever having dinner in the canyon without some fire-roasted asparagus. You can prepare this before you head to your campsite, or if you’re feeling adventurous you can do it there. J-Mo and I were running late and decided to stop on the grocery store on the way to the canyon and take our chances. I packed a cutting board, knife, butter, a few spices, and a roll of tin foil, and off we went. I bought a pre-packaged container of fresh asparagus from the produce section and a lemon. (And also some corn on the cob.)

Gourmet Tin Foil Dinner: Roasted Asparagus

Campfire with white-hot coals and only a few flames

1 pound asparagus spears
1 lemon
2-3 tablespoons butter
salt and pepper
4-6 ice cubes

Rinse and trim your asparagus spears, divide into 2 piles, top each with a tablespoon of butter and a generous helping of salt and pepper. Thinly slice a lemon and put a few rounds on each pile of asparagus. Add 1 or 2 ice cubes to each packet and wrap tightly in a foil envelope. Then wrap again with another layer of foil. I have found the least leaky method is to fold the foil over your asparagus lengthwise, so you have a slightly open seam right down the center. Then grab both open ends, bring them together in the middle, and roll tightly down to the packet. Do this twice. Not only does it give you a little handle to grab out of the fire, your juices will stay very well contained as long as you don’t puncture the foil with your shovel or tongs or whatever.

Place your asparagus packets on a pile of white coals and let cook for 15-20 minutes, turning over occasionally. The ice cubes will help keep your asparagus from charring.

Remove from fire with tongs or heavy-duty leather gloves, and enjoy! (I wonder if I could make hollandaise sauce over a fire for next time…)

A Few Tips for Campfire Cooking:

• Cooking over a fire takes a while, it takes a while to start your fire and it takes some time before it’s ready to cook on.
• Make sure you bring extra wood (for s’mores) and at least 2 gallons of water for dousing your coals before you leave the campsite (if you have water at your campsite, then make sure to bring a gallon jug to get it from the river/faucet to your fire pit).
• Bring a pair of long fire-resistant tongs, and/or a pair of heavy-duty leather gloves for retrieving your dinner.
• A shovel for moving your coals around is much more precise than using a stick, but a big stick will work just fine.
• You can always pull your dinner out to check it, re-wrap, and pop it back in if it’s not done yet, but you will lose some of the steam and the tight foil seal by doing so.