
Sorry for the pause, I know it’s been a week – I’m taking exams at the moment. Right, it’s time for another asparagus recipe before I get distracted by all the other food ideas floating around in my head. In my last asparagus post, I mentioned how I wanted to re-discover it and that I did, by eating it thinly shaved and raw as a salad. Now I’m going to the opposite end of the spectrum with some roasted asparagus. Eating it raw retains a fresh, pea-like flavour which I recently read is “partly caused by 2-alkyl-3-methoxy-pyrazines” – I’m sorry, what?! Anyhow, roasting it draws out the water and intensifies the flavour, a totally different experience.

For this recipe, I also roasted some garlic, as I wanted the mellow cloves to add to my caramelised lemon dressing (you could just use a very small amount of fresh garlic if you don’t want to do this – 1/2 clove). To caramelise the lemons you simply cut them in half and cook them flesh side down in a hot pan for a few minutes until charred. You can then squeeze their golden, sweetened juice into your dressing or whatever else you fancy. It’s a great way to jazz up the humble lemon a bit and is something we always fling on the barbecue for drizzling over grilled meats and fish.

I’ve made a ‘mimosa’ with the eggs – or pushed ‘em through a sieve, which I think is a great way to add a little richness to vegetables without covering them in butter. There is also something about the process of making eggs mimosa that I find extremely satisfying. If you ever made ‘hair’ out of clay and a sieve at primary school then you know what I’m talking about. A touch of parmesan goes in with the eggs for extra flavour and saltiness and the final flourish is some crispy, chilli fried breadcrumbs - a welcome kick and a great textural contrast. So we have intensely flavoured roasted asparagus, rich, slightly salty eggs, sweet lemon dressing and those spicy crumbs. It’s a bit like a really lazy gratin with less sauce.

I was also inspired by one of my favourite bloggers this morning (Sophie from Mostly Eating), when I read her post about what she will be eating this week. Sophie is a nutritionist and her blog is full of healthy recipes and tips for maintaining a balanced diet. Believe it or not, healthy eating is something I feel pretty strongly about and so I thought I’d give you a little snapshot of the kind of thing I eat on a day to day basis because I don’t sit around eating Opera cake all the time – honest! For lunch today I made this courgette, parsley and olive farro with lemon and chilli.

It’s basically a combination of things that I had available so I’ve given the recipe below although you could just adapt as necessary. I must say that the courgette-parsley-olive combo makes great pasta sauce too, especially with plenty of garlic and parmesan. Yum.

One last thing – there is now a link in the left hand side bar to ‘Eat the Seasons’, a great resource highlighting ingredients that are at their best in the UK right now (with an option to switch to the US and Canada). There’s also time for a brief update on my urban garden which you can see is coming along just great, in fact, it’s growing abnormally quickly.

The tomatoes and potatoes are totally unstoppable and I have some exciting new additions arriving this week too.You can see in the pictures that we had rain overnight in London but, hang on a minute – what’s that bright, light stuff? Oh yeah, that’s SUN! Remember that, UK residents?! I think it might possibly be back……
The asparagus recipe was originally intended as an entry for Scott and Julia’s event – In the Bag, which showcases seasonal ingredients but I missed the deadline. Hey ho.
Asparagus with Parmesan – Eggs Mimosa, Caramelised Lemon Dressing and Chilli Crumbs
2 ‘bundles’ green asparagus (around 20 spears in total)
4 hard boiled eggs
Parmesan to taste
1 large lemon, halved
1 slice stale bread, crusts removed and blended to make crumbs
1 red chilli, de-seeded (or not, I didn’t!) and finely chopped
Olive oil for frying
For the dressing
3 fat cloves roasted garlic (or 1/2 clove fresh, crushed)
1 level teaspoon wholegrain mustard
Juice of one caramelised lemon
Black pepper
Extra Virgin olive oil
Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas4/350F
- Bend each asparagus spear until it snaps and discard the woody ends. Put the asparagus in a roasting tray, drizzle lightly with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for around 15 minutes, depending on thickness – they should be just tender.
- Meanwhile, peel the eggs, put them in a sieve with a good grating of parmesan and then push through the sieve into a bowl.
- Heat a pan for the lemon, halve it, add a little oil and char it, flesh side down until blackened. Then, set aside while you begin to make the dressing, below.
- For the dressing, mush the garlic in a pestle and mortar with a little sea salt. Add some black pepper and the mustard and stir to combine. Add the caramelised lemon juice and scrape some of the nice caramelised bits from the surface of the lemon half into the dressing too. Add a few tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Whisk to emulsify and adjust the quantities to your taste.
- To make the crumbs, fry the chopped chilli with the crumbs in a little olive oil until golden and crispy.
- Serve the asparagus with some of the dressing poured on top, then the eggs, more dressing and finally those crispy crumbs.
Farro with Courgettes, Parsley and Olives
250g farro
3 small courgettes, grated
1 red chilli, finely chopped
Juice of 2 lemons
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 red onion, finely sliced or diced
1 small bunch flat leaf parsley, leaves picked
20 kalamata olives, halved
Parmesan and lemon zest, to serve
1 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper
- Put the grated courgettes in a colander, sprinkle with a little fine salt and put a plate on top to weight them down. Either put this in the sink or over a bowl to let the water drain out. I left them for about half an hour then got bored but they were fine.
- Cook the farro according to packet instructions.
- Soften the onion in olive oil until starting to caramelise, add the garlic and chilli for a couple of minutes and then add the courgettes (as soon as you smell any hint of the garlic burning, put your courgettes in).
- Cook the mixture for 10 minutes (ish). This is to lightly cook the courgettes and get rid of any remaining moisture.
- Whisk together the honey, lemon juice olive oil and some black pepper.
- Mix everything together in a serving bowl, pour over the dressing and finish with a good grating of parmesan and lemon zest.