Instructions: Unlike a bumper crop of, say, zucchini, theres no such thing as too much asparagus. The first fresh, green stalks of spring seem so precious. Asparagus lovers think they can never get enough.

But after two or three meals of steamed spears simply dressed with butter and lemon, even the purists seem willing to relax and branch out a bit.

So we stir-fry it with sesame oil and soy sauce as a side dish for grilled chicken or salmon. We throw extravagant handfuls of cooked, chopped spears into fritattas, souffles and risottos. We grill it alongside steaks or lamb kabobs. and we puree it into creamy, pale green soups.

We cook it in every imaginable way - and its always wonderful.

But if youve never tried roasting it, youre missing something deeply delectable.

Like all vegetables, when you roast asparagus, you lose a lot of water.

That makes them look less attractive, but it has the effect of concentrating the flavors, says Andrea Chesman, author of The Roasted Vegetable (Harvard Common, $12.95). And although asparagus isnt really a sugar-rich vegetable, it does have sugar, which caramelizes, and the flavor is delicious.

To cooks whove seen the awful outcome of overcooking the delicate vegetable, the idea of subjecting its tender green shoots to a 450-degree oven may sound unthinkable.

But the flavor becomes bigger, rounder and sweeter. The grass-green color turns richer, burnished with streaks of bronze. And the texture - although not as crisp - is tender and medium-firm.

Its delicious drizzled with balsamic vinegar or lemon juice and sprinkled with a little coarse sea salt at the table. And when its combined with other ingredients, the robust character more than makes up for the less pristine look.

Add roasted asparagus to cooked pasta dishes and to rice or pasta salads.

Dress it with a flavorful vinaigrette and toss it with other vegetables for a side dish. Its great on pizza - especially one topped with goat cheese.

The basic asparagus-roasting technique is easy:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Wash and trim asparagus spears as you would for streaming: Snap off the tough end and, if you prefer, use a vegetable peeler to thinly shave some of the skin off the sides near the bottom. Spread the spears on a large rimmed baking sheet; use two pans, if necessary, to avoid crowding them, or theyll steam instead of roast.

Drizzle them very lightly with extra-virgin olive oil and roll them around to coat them lightly but completely. Roast medium-thick spears about 15 minutes, thin ones about 11 minutes, occasionally shaking the pan to roll them around for even browning.

Test with a fork to determine doneness. Theyre done when theyre tender throughout and lightly browned or deeply browned, but not charred, Chesman says. You dont want to blacken vegetables; they get nasty when theyre charred.

If your recipe calls for coating asparagus with something besides oil - say, a lemon vinaigrette - before roasting, Chesman suggests lowering the temperature to 400 degrees to reduce the risk of burning the marinade and creating off flavors.

But dont worry; roasting is a nearly foolproof way to prepare this special spring vegetable.

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