[In Season #2] 3 ways with asparagus

Recipes for asparagus rarebit, a rice salad and grilled polenta

Asparagus is the darling of spring vegetables. Popular on restaurant menus and in home cooking alike, I suppose mostly because its taste is unique and fresh, echoing the bursting open of the season it arrives in. But also because its tessellated stems are striking and look proud on a plate coated with a simple sauce. I’ve always found it interesting which fruit and vegetables people actually see as seasonal, and which they buy year round (thanks to supermarkets stocking). Asparagus is fairly noticeable once in season in the UK, or from nearby France or Spain, as the stems tend to get thicker and it is usually labelled with a British tag. The spindly imports found year round are air freighted to the UK, often from as far as Peru, due to their delicate nature and short lifespan, giving them a high carbon footprint. While the appetite for asparagus doesn’t disappear during their off season, I do feel like they are more commonly celebrated as being in season when May and the fat, bunched stems arrive. Do you feel the same?

In my day job as a recipe developer for food media, I can be working 3-6 months ahead of when a recipe will be published. I use my recipes and the writing around them to promote eating seasonally, highlighting that everything tastes its best when its at its freshest. The irony of which means I’m often testing recipes with out of season fruit and vegetables. Asparagus is one of the many vegetables that I get very excited about when the local stuff is ready, the taste far surpassing anything flown in. While I was at cookery school many years ago, I helped out at the school’s allotment. My main memory from those after school sessions was tasting a stem of asparagus fresh from the ground. It was raw, had no salt or seasoning and it was incredible. It takes a few years for asparagus to establish but it will definitely be on my growing list when I finally have a garden or allotment of my own.

Asparagus recipes

Asparagus is also a winner because it is quick to cook (or eat raw, shaved with a Y-peeler and coated in dressing - as in this recipe I recently wrote for Delicious). To keep its verdant, mildly earthy taste it’s important not to overcook it. A few minutes to blanch in boiling water or cook over blistering heat on a barbecue or griddle pan is all it takes. I have three recipes for you to try here. The first is a sort of tart made with polenta and topped with various spring veg. The second is a more classic side dish, dousing blanched asparagus in a rarebit sauce. And the third is another recipe that pairs asparagus with an equally delicious spring green, purple sprouting broccoli, this time in a rice salad with a zero-waste asparagus stem gribiche sauce.

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Spring veg grilled polenta with radish leaf pistou

Asparagus retains a tender bite and gains a caramelised char when grilled so this sort of polenta tart works as an ideal base for a quick flash under the grill. I say ‘sort of’ because it doesn’t have the integrity of a tart, the polenta stays soft and scoopable so you can’t slice and serve it, but as everything is piled on top of the polenta base it feels tart-esque. Grilling polenta is a technique inspired by an Ottolenghi recipe from his book Plenty that piles mushroooms and taleggio onto a polenta base. Here, I’ve combined the asparagus with spring onions, radishes and a little ricotta then drizzled the whole dish with a blended pistou (like pesto but without any cheese) that uses up the radish leaves. It’s pretty enough to serve at a dinner party as something a little special, but easy enough to not require much faff. Though I’d recommend serving it at the centre of the table as it’s not quite as beautiful once dug into.

Serves 2 as a main or 4 as a starter

• 30g pine nuts

• 80g radishes with leaves (see tip), radishes halved, leaves chopped

• 5g dill or parsley, plus a few fronds/leaves to serve

• ½ lemon, zest and juice

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 100g asparagus, halved lengthways

• 4 spring onions

• 100g ricotta

POLENTA

• 200ml whole milk

• ½ tsp fine sea salt

• 100g quick cook polenta

• 20g salted butter

• 50g mature cheddar or parmesan, or a similar hard cheese, grated

1 First make the pistou. Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan for a few minutes until golden and fragrant. Tip into a bowl and leave to cool for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, roughly chop the radish leaves and herbs and put in a small blender with the lemon zest and juice and oil. Add the nuts and blend to a paste. Season and set aside.

2 For the polenta, put the milk in a saucepan with 300ml water and the salt and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to low, pour in the polenta while stirring then cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly until thickened and coming away from the sides of the pan. Stir in the butter and cheese and season. Pour onto a lined baking tray and spread evenly so about 1.5cm deep.

3 Heat the grill to medium-high. Arrange the asparagus, radishes and spring onions over the polenta, then drizzle with a little oil. Scatter over the ricotta and season with salt and pepper. Pop under the grill for 5-7 minutes, until the asparagus is burnished in places and tender. Use the corners of the baking paper to lift the polenta onto a board. Drizzle with the pistou plus a little extra oil and sprinkle over some more herbs.

TIPS

Separate the radishes from your leaves as soon as you get them home. Wrap the leaves in damp kitchen paper or a cloth and keep in the fridge. If you keep them attached the roots will drain the leaves of their nutrients and turn limp.

You could swap the pine nuts for sunflower seeds or similar if you’d like to make the dish nut free.

If you’re cooking for a dinner party, you can make the polenta and spread it out on a lined baking tray ahead of time. Leave it to cool then arrange over the toppings and set aside at room temperature, covered with a tea towel for a few hours before grilling. You can make the pistou ahead of time too.

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Asparagus & Purple Sprouting Broccoli Red Rice Salad

Serves 4

• 240g red rice

• 250g asparagus

• 5 tbsp elderflower wine vinegar (or white wine vinegar)

• 8 eggs

• 250g purple sprouting broccoli

• About 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 2 tsp Dijon mustard

• 160ml sunflower oil

• 10g parsley, chopped

1 Wash the rice then cook in a pan of salted boiling water, according to the pack instructions (usually it takes about 45 minutes). Meanwhile, snap the ends off the asparagus, they naturally snap where the woody section ends. Finely chop the woody ends and put in a small bowl. Sprinkle over a little salt then pour in 2 tbsp vinegar and a splash of water. Stir then set aside to quick pickle for at least 20 minutes.

2 Bring a pan of salted water to the boil then lower in the eggs and simmer for 8 minutes. Transfer to a bowl of ice water to cool. Drizzle the asparagus stems and purple sprouting broccoli with a little olive oil and season with salt. Heat a griddle pan over a medium-high heat until hot, add the veg and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side until charred and tender.

3 Meanwhile, peel and halve the eggs. Scoop the yolks out of two eggs into a bowl, then chop the whites. Add 3 tbsp vinegar and the mustard to the yolks plus some salt and pepper. Use a balloon whisk to mash into a paste. Slowly pour in the sunflower oil, while whisking constantly so it emulsifies into a mayonnaise-like sauce. Stir in the chopped egg whites and coriander. Scoop the quick pickled asparagus stems out of the pickling liquor and add these too (keep the liquid). Season the gribiche to taste and keep chilled.

4 Drain the rice then stir through the pickling liquid and ½ tbsp olive oil. Serve the rice with the griddled veg, boiled eggs and gribiche sauce.

Wylde Market // I developed this rice salad recipe using ingredients from Wylde Market - an online shop that works like an in-person market in that all of the ingredients listed are what is available that week. They sell top quality ingredients from small scale farmers and producers that care about regenerating the land and sourcing with care. All orders are delivered on Fridays. If you’ve not shopped from them before, you can get £15 off your first order via this link. (Full disclosure, it’s an affiliate link, so if you use it, I’ll also get money off my next shop. But sharing is caring right).

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Asparagus spears with rarebit sauce

Keeping things simple, asparagus is delicious with one variety or another of a creamy sauce. I’ve gone for a rarebit here which hails from the toastie Welsh rarebit – it’s basically a cheese sauce but made with ale rather than milk for a deeper flavour profile underlying the richness. On top I’ve sprinkling mini pickled silverskin onions (from a jar) and some toasted pumpkin seeds.