Now that summer is here, I find ourselves eating lighter food, which normally means a ton of salads. However, sometimes I get a bit bored of eating lettuce regardless of what we may put on top of it. When you want something light but are sick of salads, this Grilled Asparagus with Fresh Dried Chili Oil is a great alternative, especially since there is some awesome looking asparagus in our Farmers’ Market right now.

This flavourful Grilled Asparagus with Fresh Dried Chili Oil makes the perfect lunch or light dinner, and feeds 2 people at $1.70 per serving.

Buy some nice asparagus and put them on the grill until they become tender and get a little charred. I bought some of the thicker asparagus, so they wouldn’t fall through the grate on the grill. If you don’t have a grill, you can put the asparagus in a dry frying pan and cook them over a medium heat to achieve similar results.

The Fresh Dried Chili Oil is the pi?®ce de r?©sistance of the dish, and ties together the flavours of the fresh asparagus and the delicate poached egg. I crushed up two dried chipotle peppers and rehydrated them with some boiling water, and then added grated garlic and 1/4 cup of fresh mint from the garden. Slowly add olive oil while mixing everything together, and then season with salt.

Poaching eggs might seem a bit scary, but it is quite easy and takes just a little practice. There are many methods on how to best poach an egg, but here is a thorough demonstration with photos and videos. Don’t worry about making a perfect looking poached egg because my eggs never coming out looking beautiful, but they always taste good which is the most important part.

Place the grilled asparagus on a plate and gently lay a poached egg on top. Drizzle the chili oil over the egg, and serve with some toasted crusty bread to soak up all the egg yolk and oil.