Roasted Asparagus With Hazelnut-Citrus Aioli

"Creamy aioli makes the perfect accompaniment to this nutritious side dish filled with a range of complementary flavors and, of course, almonds." Found on the California Almond Board website as spotted in an advertisement printed in Sunset Magazine recently. When I first came across this recipe I remembered the minneola tangelos we received in our CSA box the week before and then the idea struck me to substitute hazelnuts for the almonds. Therefore, there are two versions to this recipe: the original orange and almonds and the alternate minneola and hazelnuts (both equally good I might add.) Lastly, I changed the preparation of asparagus from steamed to roasted and "tidied up" a few things here and there, as they say.

• Ready In: 17 mins
• Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1  lb fresh asparagus, trimmed
• 1⁄3 cup  olive-oil based mayonnaise (read *Note)
• 1⁄2 teaspoon  finely minced garlic
• 1⁄2 teaspoon  grated minneola tangelo zest or 1⁄2 teaspoon orange zest
• 2  tablespoons  fresh minneola tangelo  juice or 2  tablespoons  orange juice

• Garnish

• 2  tablespoons  coarsely chopped hazelnuts or 2  tablespoons  sliced almonds, toasted
•  fresh parsley (rosemary or oregano can be substituted, herb is my contribution) (optional)

Directions

1. *Note: If you don't have olive oil-based mayo, just stir in a small amount (1 teaspoon?) of extra virgin olive oil to your regular mayo. Ideally homemade mayonnaise would be best.
2. Preheat oven to 400º.
3. Place asparagus in a parchment-lined jelly roll pan. {Lightly} drizzle with olive oil. Add a light sprinkle of salt and cracked black pepper.
4. Roast approximately 7-10 minutes depending on how thick the spears are.
5. Meanwhile, stir together mayonnaise, garlic, zest and the minneola juice. It's best to prepare the aioli at least an hour in advance.
6. Spoon part of the aioli onto the asparagus spears and serve the remaining aioli in a small dish on the side. Or, as with the original recipe, serve all the aioli on the side. It's your choice.
7. Garnish top of the asparagus spears with the almonds (and the parsley if using.).