Remembering asparagus!

Since the asparagus season is over (for those who don't know, it runs from the Grand National to the Derby) I thought I would write about asparagus - sparrow's grass. Despite it making your wee smell funny, it is one of the most flavoursome vegetables and versatile - as a starter, accompanying a main course or, combined with other stuff, a great main course in its own right.

First the boring bit before I describe the recipe that's pictured above:

Asparagus is a herbaceous, perennial plant growing to 100–150 centimetres (39–59 in) tall, with stout stems with much-branched feathery foliage. The "leaves" are in fact needle-like cladodes (modified stems) in the axils of scale leaves; they are 6–32 millimetres (0.24–1.3 in) long and 1 millimetre (0.039 in) broad, and clustered 4–15 together. The root system is adventitious and the root type is fasciculated. The flowers are bell-shaped, greenish-white to yellowish, 4.5–6.5 millimetres (0.18–0.26 in) long, with six tepals partially fused together at the base; they are produced singly or in clusters of 2–3 in the junctions of the branchlets. It is usually dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants, but sometimes hermaphrodite flowers are found. The fruit is a small red berry 6–10 mm diameter, which is poisonous to humans.

Got all that? The plant also has supposed medicinal qualities although I'm pretty (by which I mean 100%) sure that it doesn’t cure cancer.

So, that recipe – roast asparagus salad with poached egg – which comes from Steve Parle (or rather the roast asparagus bit does):

1 large bunch of asparagus
8 sweet cherry tomatoes
2 tbsp of small firm black olives, stones removed
1 scant tsp of capers
6 sprigs of thyme
1 clove of garlic, cut into 4
3½oz/100g lamb’s lettuce, washed and dried
1 scant tsp white wine, cider or sherry vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
2oz/50g aged pecorino or other hard, picante cheese

Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Snap the tough stems from the asparagus and place in a roasting tray with the tomatoes, olives, capers, thyme and garlic. Glug over a little olive oil and roast for five to 10 minutes until the asparagus is soft and the tomatoes have burst.

Remove the tray from the oven and add the vinegar and a little more olive oil. Break the tomatoes up a little into the oil and vinegar to make a sort of dressing.

Lay the lettuce on a serving plate and place the asparagus on top.

Pour over the juices from the roasting tin then shave over some cheese.

My version has two variations – the addition of a poached egg perched atop the roasted sparrow’s grass and a particular cheese:

Pecorino Tartufo is an old style of Umbrian pressed sheep milk cheese. The cheese's buttery nutty flavour is enhanced with the addition of aromatic black truffles giving it a unique signature.

Well there had to be some mushrooms involved somewhere!

....

Friday Fungus: Salad (and how we can get through Summer with bacon and mushrooms)

OK guys, its summer time and that means salads. I know that this is a painful experience – no stew (or dumplings), no roasties, no rice. Above all, no chips.

But offer it up (as my mum used to say). Go with the salad regime but insist on these details:

Salads must contain other ingredients than lettuce (or even those euphemisms for lettuce – “young leaves”). Proper stuff with bite – feta cheese, walnuts, marinated olives, bacon bits (and not the dried up rubbish they give you at salad bars), lumps of cold meat, mature cheddar and something else…oh yes, mushrooms.

Now a warning here – some people think you shouldn’t eat raw mushrooms. Give you a tummy ache you know! And –from the taste perspective I rather agree. If you want to eat raw mushrooms, go ahead but I think a little cooking makes all the difference.

So folks, since you want real man salads, here’s the Friday Fungus bacon and mushroom salad recipe. You’ll need:

Some mushrooms (about four normal sized ones per person, chopped)
Good green bacon (two rashers per person, chopped)
Two teaspoons of capers
Couple of shallots (chopped)
A green salad of lettuce, “young leaves”, coriander and cucumber
A dressing of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salts and black pepper

Heat up a heavy frying pan, fry the bacon for a minute then add the mushrooms. Stir, add some black pepper and the shallots. Fry for a further minute then cover turn off the heat and leave to stand for five minutes. Make the green salad.

Add the mushrooms and bacon to the salad, mix thoroughly. Then add the dressing, toss and serve (with a nice picture of a bowl of chips).

....

Friday Fungus: Warm Porcini Salad

These fresh porcini - can't you just smell them - were photographed at Radda-in-Chianti during late September. Early days for the harvest in truth (and they may have been shipped in from further north in Italy or higher in the hills) but they are glorious mushrooms - almost without peer when it comes to versatility & flavour. With these (or a couple of them as they're bloody expensive to buy) we are going to make - as they say on the telly - a warm salad.

You'll need:

2 good sized fresh porcini

A couple of those chunky red shallots or a small red onion

Some thyme, some sage and rosemary

Olive oil

Salt & black pepper

Fresh leaves, tomatoes and cucumber for the salad

Ciabatta

Slice the porcini - not too thinly as it loses bulk in the cooking, chop the shallots or onions and tear up the herbs.

Heat some oil in a heavy-bottomed pan (with a lid) and, when hot, soften the shallots. Add the porcini, herbs, salt and pepper, stir and cook for about 3 or 4 minutes. Cover the pan tightly and turn of the heat leaving to stand on the hob - will carry on softening and cooking.

Prepare a simple salad of leaves, cucumber and tomato. Dress a plate with a salad, uncover the cooked porcini and service on the salad with slices of ciabatta.