ASPARAGUS 3 WAYS

My three favourite ways with asparagus.

Happy May bank holiday all!

May is might be my favourite month of the year. It feels hopeful, with whispers of summer on the horizon and some of my favourite seasonal produce returning for another year.

One of those is of course Asparagus. There’s always been an air of superiority with asparagus. It feel special, elegant even. Often it doesn’t need much faffing with. With a pool of salted melted butter to dunk into or golden, soft boiled eggs, are both favourites for me.

My first really good asparagus experience was about 11 years ago at Rochelle Canteen in East London. I was a student at cookery school and one Friday in May myself and my then boyfriend took ourselves off for a classic Rochelle canteen garden lunch. He had been working at Rochelle Canteen so was owed a lunch, I got to join. We were presented a plate of the fattest asparagus i’d seen. Just cooked, with a light crunch in the middle and adorned with a sauce gribiche. Sauce gribiche is one of those well balanced concoctions where the textures and flavours sing together perfectly. Rich egg yolks are hard boiled and blitzed into a smooth mayonnaise with oil and seasoned heavily with vinegar, mustard, capers, tarragon and pickles - just a few of my favourite things.

If you haven’t made it before give it a go. If you like egg mayo you will love it and if you’re fond of pickles and punchy herbs you will love it even more. It is particularly good on asparagus and served with lots of buttered baguette.

I’ve also got two really easy ideas for you. One is a good grab mayonnaise with plenty of lemon and the other with toasted hazelnuts with a rich nutty brown butter and pecorino.

Have a lovely start to spring and I hope you enjoy these recipes!

Esther x

HOW TO PREPARE ASPARAGUS

• Asparagus is in season for roughly 2 months of the year. From late April to Late June so this is the best time to buy and cook it. look for firm, green stems. When they are wrinkled or turning yellow they are not at their best.

• Thick, new season asparagus has tough, woody ends. These need to be removed. Bend the asparagus and they will naturally break off where the woody part meets the tender part.

• To cook the asparagus bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Thicker asparagus should be boiled for 2 mins where as thinner spears should be cooked for 1 1/2 mins.

• You can eat the asparagus warm or cool it down in a large bowl of ice water.

SAUCE GRIBICHE

PREP 15 mins COOK 9 mins SERVES 2-4