Lola – Tom Douglas Restaurants

This is a great side dish for early season barbequing or as part of a meze lunch. Make the two sauces before hand but grill the asparagus just before eating!

Garlic Yogurt
We use this sauce at the restaurant with many dishes and our cooks are known to put a dollop on whatever is for family meal!
1 pt yogurt
4 cloves of garlic
1.5 TBL olive oil
1 tsp salt

Slice garlic thinly and mix with yogurt.  Let stand, chilled for at least 2 hrs. to allow the yogurt time to absorb the garlic flavor. Strain out the garlic slivers through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl.  Pressing the yogurt through is easier with the back of a ladle or a rubber spatula.  Season your yogurt with olive oil and salt.

Charred Zhoug

-Zhoug is a middle eastern ‘hot sauce’.  At Lola we like to add in the charring of the jalapenos and garlic to add a smoky flavor to the sauce!
1 b cilantro
1 b parsley
1 b mint
2 jalapenos
6 cloves garlic
1 lemon – zest and juice
½ c olive oil
Salt

Wash and roughly chop the mint, cilantro and parsley and set aside.  (You don’t have to be too picky with the cilantro and parsley stems, just the mint!)  Toss the jalapenos and garlic cloves in olive oil and broil or grill them to get a lightly charred crust.  Cut off the stem of the jalapeno and roughly chop.  You can remove the seeds if you want a little less spice.  In a food processor pulse the jalapenos and garlic a few times to chop smaller.  Add your herbs, lemon zest and juice and olive oil.  Process until a salsa like consistency is reached.  Season with salt.

Grilled Washington Asparagus
1 bunch Washington asparagus
1 lemon, cut in half

Rinse your asparagus.  Snap off the woody stems.  Lightly dress with oil and salt.  Grill over a hot grill or  coals, turning after two minutes.  It should take less than 5 minutes total!  Squeeze half a lemon over the asparagus just before you take it off the grill.

Pull the asparagus off the grill before you think it’s done to avoid overcooking!  It should have some stability left and not completely wilt when you pick it up with your tongs.

To serve

On a platter or plate smear a few large spoonfuls of garlic yogurt.  Lay the grilled asparagus atop the yogurt.  Spoon the Zhoug onto the asparagus and drizzle the plate with just a little more olive oil.  Enjoy the asparagus with a swipe of both sauces!