Easter Feast #2 ~ Roasted Marinated Pork and Purple Asparagus

On a recent shopping trip the the Fresh Market, we spotted this gorgeous Purple Asparagus and decided that we had to have it for Easter Dinner. I had seen purple asparagus in photos before, but had never tried it. I would be lying if I said it was easy leaving this alone until Easter day, I was absolutely giddy with anticipation of trying, and wasn't disappointed in the end.When my mom arrived, she came with this lovely Easter Basket. Now I don't care how old I am, each year I never get any less excited about having an Easter basket. This was a particularly lovely basket as the contents were more suited to my age... With the pork finishing up in the oven, my wait for the purple asparagus was coming to an end. I coated in some olive oil and sprinkled with Maldon sale, then cooked on a Medium flame for about 10 minutes. Once the pork came out of the over to rest, I turned the heat up to 400F and finished off the asparagus in the over, about another 5-10 minutes, checking frequently as I didn't want them to burn.

One thing I would like to mention, and I had a sneaking suspicion that this would happen, is that they turn green when cooking. They did retain a bit of the purple, but the majority turned a deep green.

Backing up a bit, the pork was marinated for 8 hours in a mixture of:

• 1 large tbsp prepared vinaigrette
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• vegetable oil to thin (about 1/4-1/2 cup)
• few good shape of Tamari sauce
• 3 clove garlic
• Herbs de Provence
• 5 sprigs of Lemon Thyme
• 2 sprigs Rosemary
• good pinch each of sale and pepper
• a splash of lemonade

When ready to cook, I shook access marinade off and roasted at 325F for 35-40 minutes. What a fantastic combination...The pork was moist and flavorful. The asparagus was divine. It had a slightly sweeter taste than regular green asparagus. The smokiness of roasting it was a good compliment to the natural flavor. This would be a good introduction for someone that doesn't think they like asparagus. We also had kohlrabi remoulade and an artichoke/green olive pesto pasta salad. Not your traditional Easter feast, but most enjoyable!

Afterwards we had lovely lemon cupcakes that my mom had made, but sadly my camera had retired for the night, so I can't share them with you.