Asperges de bois

I had lots of ideas for the woodland asparagus that my friend picked for me the other day, and I settled on two of them.

For the first dish I needed to prepare some for blanching. I cut the delicate stalks to about 5 cm below the head, then dropped the bunch into boiling water for 3 minutes, before transferring it to ice-cold water. This helps maintain the vibrant green colour of the vegetable.

I served it simply with locally sourced cured ham, I’d fried off the asparagus in a little butter, and sprinkled with pepper and a little salt.

The second dish was a simple risotto. I cut them down as before, but this time I used the cut-off ends to make a little stock, which I mixed with some wine and reduced to form the base of a risotto. Once the risotto was made, I stirred through the woodland asparagus, and added a little butter for lusciousness and plenty of pepper.

All so fresh and yummy.