The British asparagus that arrived in March felt like a Christmas card that arrives too early. I let it be, in much the same way I put premature greetings back in their envelopes. Yet there was still the chill of early spring when I bought the first bunch a few weeks later and roasted the thick spears, tossing them with a robust dressing made from short, fat jalapeño chillies, ground cumin and lime. The notes of smoke and spice worked surprisingly well with the juicy stems and their crisply roasted tips.
A week later, I picked up a more fragile bunch with finer stems and gave them an appropriately delicate treatment, offering them with a cream made of smoked salmon and the sort of sweet, mustardy seasonings we usually reserve for gravadlax. Both worked, but in very different ways.
There is a temptation to think of asparagus as the cotton-wool kid of the vegetable patch, but it responds just as well to a slightly tougher treatment. Those silky butter-kissed sauces are all fine, and I enjoy a nicely executed hollandaise as much as anyone, but sprightly flavours of ginger, chilli and mustard make asparagus smile, too (use them in a dressing with olive oil), especially when married to orange, lemon or lime. Such recipes lift the spears’ spirits rather than sending them to sleep under a comfort blanket of butter and egg.
There is a dish I like to bring out in spring, a mild-mannered sauté of early lamb and young shallots with asparagus tips and an aniseed-flavoured herb, such as tarragon or, if you can find it, chervil. You need a tender cut, meat from the leg or fillet, as the cooking time is relatively brief. Not the cheapest of dinners, but it feels, just as any asparagus supper seems to, like a true celebration of the new season and all that is yet to come.
A little lamb and asparagus stew
I like rice with this dish, or crushed new potatoes.
Serves 3-4
butter 40g
lamb leg or fillet, cubed 450g
shallots 250g
plain flour 2 tbsp
white wine 150ml
stock 800ml
asparagus 300g
crème fraîche 200ml
chervil leaves a handful
Melt the butter in a deep casserole, add the lamb and leave it to colour lightly for a few minutes over a moderately high heat. Tossing it from time to time will help it colour evenly on all sides. Remove the browned meat to a plate.
Peel the shallots whole, halving any that are bigger than a walnut in its shell. Add them to the casserole and let them brown lightly, tossing them occasionally so that they colour evenly.
Return the lamb in its juices to the pan. Dust the flour over the meat and onions and cook for a minute or two, stirring from time to time. Turn up the heat and pour in the white wine. Leave to bubble away until the wine is reduced by half, scraping at the crusty bits on the base of the pan with a wooden spatula as you go.
Pour in the stock (it can be vegetable, lamb or even chicken) and bring to the boil, then lower the heat and leave to simmer, partly covered, for about 30 minutes, until the meat is tender but still has plenty of bite.
Slice the asparagus spears into 2 or 3 short lengths and add to the pan with salt and pepper. Continue cooking for about 5 minutes, until the asparagus is tender. Stir in the crème fraîche and chervil leaves. Check the seasoning and serve.
Steamed asparagus, smoked salmon and dill cream
The salmon cream also makes a good spread for dark and sticky rye bread.
Serves 2
smoked salmon 250g
Dijon mustard 2 tbsp
liquid honey 1 tbsp
dill 15g, fronds and stalks, lightly chopped
crème fraîche 100g
lemon juice a little
asparagus 500g, medium-thick spears
Put the salmon into a food processor. Add the mustard, honey and the dill, and process briefly to a coarse paste. Scrape into a bowl and fold in the crème fraîche, a few twists of pepper and a squeeze of lemon. Refrigerate, covered, until you are ready to cook the asparagus.
Trim the asparagus. Bring 3cm depth of lightly salted water to the boil in a wide, shallow-sided pan. Lower in the asparagus, then let it simmer for 3-6 minutes until tender. Drain carefully then divide between plates and serve with a mound of the smoked salmon cream.
Roast asparagus, green chillies and lime
A spicy treatment for thick stalks of asparagus.
Serves 2
asparagus 500g, thick spears
garlic 5 cloves
olive oil 5 tbsp
limes 2
ground cumin 1 tsp
jalapeño chilli 1
oregano 6 leaves
Set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6. Trim the asparagus, removing any tough ends. Peel the garlic. Place the spears in a roasting tin with the whole cloves of garlic then pour over the oil to lightly coat. Roast for 25 minutes.
After 20 minutes in the oven, transfer the garlic to a blender. Squeeze the limes into the blender and add the cumin. Halve and seed the chilli, then slice thinly and add to the blender with the oregano and a little salt and blend to a coarse dressing. Remove the asparagus from the oven, pour the dressing over the spears and toss gently together.
Email Nigel at nigel.slater@observer.co.uk or follow him on Twitter@NigelSlater
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