02 May Asparagus

A field of asparagus is a sight to behold, strange green finger like spears poking out of the soil with no other foliage.
They are only around for a short season, are a little bit more expensive than other veg but are totally delicious, so definitely worth it.
I did wonder if I really needed to even write a page on this beautiful veg because I’m sure these gems are not wasted nearly as much as other veg, but I decided it would be worth it because even a veg like asparagus can warrant a jazz up sometimes.

Nutritional value – vitamin A, B, C, E and K, folate, selenium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, zinc and iron.

Season – Spring into early summer

My favourite way to enjoy asparagus is simply lightly fried in a little olive oil or butter with black pepper and garlic, but here are a few more suggestions to make sure they never end up being relegated to the bin. Sacrilege

Boiled egg with asparagus soldiers

Asparagus and egg are a match made in heaven. Boil a couple of eggs so you have soft yolks (6 mins is the usual rule of thumb) While they are boiling, cook your asparagus as above, omitting the garlic if you would prefer it without and then go right ahead and dunk those little babies in the egg yolk. Yum.

Asparagus omelette

This is a quick and easy breakfast, lunch or even dinner and is perfect if your asparagus are not 100% fresh, i.e. they’ve been hanging around in the fridge for a few days without a home.
Slice the asparagus into 1-inch long segments and fry gently in a little butter with a grind of salt and pepper, beat one or two eggs, depending on how hungry you are and add to the buttery asparagus. You can either leave it as it is or add ham and/or cheese at this point, cook for a few minutes, fold in half and cook for a couple more minutes. Serve with a big mixed salad.

Pancetta Spears

These are amazingly tasty and add some jazz to any asparagus. Bandage wrap asparagus spears with pancetta slices, place on a baking tray and bake for 10 minutes in a preheated, 180°C oven. Delicious as a starter or side dish, maybe even special soldiers?

Asparagus Galette

Mix a pack of garlic and herb soft cheese/roulle with one beaten egg. Roll out pre prepared puff pastry into a rectangle scoring a line about an inch from the edge, all the way round. Place the egg/cheese mix within the scored line and then on top lay asparagus spears, also within the lines. Bake for 20 mins at 180°C or until pastry is nicely cooked.

Asparagus Soup

I have a pretty standard soup recipe that I rarely deviate from regardless of the main ingredient. It starts with a chopped onion fried in a little olive oil or butter, when softened add a decent sized chopped potato or sweet potato and stir to coat in the oil. Add a little seasoning and 1 litre chicken or vegetable stock. Cook through until the last 5 minutes then add 2 cloves chopped garlic and a good sized bunch of chopped asparagus. Cook until tender but not mushy and blend. Voila you have a beautiful soup! Anyone who buys soup clearly has no idea how easy they are to make!

Salad Nicoise with a twist

I love a Salad Nicoise but I like it more with sweet potatoes and asparagus instead of regular potatoes and green beans. Lightly boil I medium sized chopped sweet potato in the same pan as 2 eggs, you want the potatoes soft and the eggs hard. Once cooked, drain and leave to cool while you cook the asparagus spears and tuna steak in a little garlicky olive oil. Prepare the bowls by placing romaine lettuce leaves in the bottom, top with halved cherry tomatoes, black olives, a few anchovies, the sweet potato chunks, the eggs peeled and quartered and the tuna flaked onto the top. To make a quick salad dressing combine 2 tbsps. Olive oil with 1 tbsp. cider vinegar and 1 tsp. Dijon mustard, mix together well and drizzle over the salad.

Spring vegetable stir-fry

This is a beautiful fresh side dish, I particularly like it when I can pick the first courgette, green beans and spinach from my allotment, include a few asparagus stalks and some frozen sweetcorn for extra colour and whizz around a wok with a little olive oil and salt and pepper.

Baked Breaded spears

Trim a handful of spears and in 2 separate bowls place a beaten egg and seasoned breadcrumbs. Dip the spears in the egg and then roll in the breadcrumbs before placing on a lined baking tray. Bake in a pre-heated oven for 15 minutes at 180°C and serve with lemony mayonnaise (add a squeeze of lemon to regular mayo!)

Smashed avo & spears on toast

I love putting stuff on toast to jazz it up a bit and this is the perfect combo. Toast 2 slices of sourdough bread and spread over the flesh of one avocado. Lightly fry the asparagus spears in olive oil seasoned with garlic and black pepper, place on top of the smashed avocado and squeeze over a little lime juice.

Creamed Asparagus Pasta

Take the woody ends off a bunch of asparagus and discard. Cut off the tips and put to one side. Place 250g tagliatelle in a pan of boiling water. Meanwhile in another pan heat a knob of butter and gently fry the asparagus, when starting to soften add 1 clove crushed garlic a small tub of cream and 25g parmesan, heat through then blend with a hand blender before adding the tips and serving over the cooked pasta with another 25g parmesan shaved on top.