Roasted Asparagus with Creamy Tomato Sauce
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Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
For asparagus
  • 1 bunch asparagus
  • 2 T olive oil
  • pinch salt
For sauce
  • 2 small or 1 medium tomato
  • ⅓ cup mayonnaise
  • Fresh ground black pepper
Instructions
To roast asparagus:
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Snap the bottoms off of asparagus right where it naturally snaps. (I know it seems like there's a lot of waste, but every time I've tried to circumvent this step, even by peeling the asparagus - it ends up stringy. Trust me. You can add the trimmings to your compost or use them to flavor soup).
  3. Line a baking sheet with foil, arrange the asparagus spears, drizzle with olive oil (rolling the spears around to coat each one with the oil) and sprinkle with salt.
  4. Roast for 15 minutes, or until just tender and lightly browned.
For the sauce
  1. Chop the tomatoes.
  2. In a small saucepan, combine the tomatoes, mayonnaise and plenty of fresh ground pepper.
  3. Heat over low heat, stirring frequently, until the sauce is a brilliant salmon pink and the tomatoes have softened.
  4. Serve warm over asparagus.
Notes
This sauce never had a name, but I'm calling it "Maria Rosa" - a somewhat Italianate version of English Mary Rose or Marie Rose sauce, which is made with ketchup and mayonnaise and related to Thousand Island dressing.
Recipe by The Domestic Front at http://www.thedomesticfront.com/roasted-asparagus-with-creamy-tomato-sauce/