Asparagus - Eat The Seasons, May

Asparagus, along with wild garlic and goose eggs, signal the beginning of the food year. That sunnier days and lots of tasty produce are just around the corner - happy days! Here are our favourite asparagus partners and some serving suggestions.

Prepping Asparagus - we steam or grill ours. Break the ends off by holding both ends lightly and bending - it will find it's natural break point.  Keep the ends! Then steam for 4-8 minutes depending on the thickness and how you like your veg.  

Perfect Partners for Asparagus

• Mayo - make your own or add some garlic, finely grated Parmesan like hard cheese (we use Ashmore because it's local) or a few drops of truffle oil to a good bought one and dip away!
• Hard Cheese - steam or grill your asparagus and top with olive oil or butter, salt, coarsely ground pepper and finely grated or shaved Parmesan, Ashmore or other hard cheese.
• Eggs - poached if really fresh, soft boiled or fried.  Dip in yolk. That's it.  If you can get hold one a fried goose egg and asparagus is a winning and super seasonal combination.

Asparagus Serving Suggestions

1. Lasagne, make a ‘white’ lasagne’ ie, no tomatoes, with asparagus & spinach, lots of nutmeg & top with hard or goats cheese.
2. Shave it / cut it thinly along the length & add to a salad, dress with a quick vinaigrette, this works well with Puy lentils & crumbled feta - See our Flavour Hack Vinaigrette Recipe here.
3. Make a quick tart or galette, using last months quick method, shop bought pastry, some cheese, seasoning, Parma ham would be nice on top too, think bianco pizza toppings
4. Soup, good for using all the snapped off ends, you can collect them in a tub in freezer until you have a collection of ends. Simply sweat onion & garlic & some dried herbs (use what you have) in some butter or oil, add the asparagus bits & any other veg you might have – if you want to keep it green use potatoes & broccoli stalks, or make a mixed veg soup & use up whatever is in your fridge. Add some stock to cover the veg (chicken or vegetable), simmer gently until soft, add seasoning, add some cream/ crème fraiche, blitz in a processor or with a stick blender & last of all put it through a sieve. This last bit seems like effort, but trust us, it is so worth it, you’ll get the asparagus flavour without any fibrous bits!
5. Stir fried with chilli, sesame oil, soy sauce & a squeeze of lime

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