Forum Topic

Asparagus

I love it - and we appear to be in the middle of the British season.  I usually roast it with a little olive oil and then add a little grinding of salt. (Sophie Grigson adds shavings of parmesan - mine doesn't last long enough.)This week I was treated to it as a starter with hollandaise sauce, crispy bacon and a poached egg.  It was wonderful.This was British asparagus.www.eattheseasons.orghttp://www.british-asparagus.co.uk/http://eatseasonably.co.uk/what-to-eat-now/calendar/I always wondered what umami was other than the fifth taste.Do you have a favourite recipe?

Philippa Bond ● 4280d26 Comments

Waitrose give some excellent 'Offers' occasionally. They also give good 'Offers' on dressed crab and prepared lobsters. But one has to keep a keen eye for them. I'm a 'skinflint' when it comes to bargains! Ha ha ha! Happy shopping Tracey.

Gerry Tan ● 4260d

I popped into waitrose on my way home earlier in the week Gerry, and they were reducing the aged sirloin, I picked up 4 large extremely tender steaks for a grand total of £2-66 oh happy days

Tracey Mehdizadeh ● 4260d

Tracey, I do like a tender Wagyu steak occasionally, but I have to say, imo, there's nothing like a piece(large) of Aberdeen Angus mature hung sirloin steak(with a thick slice of fat), a few fried onions and mushrooms - the second best luxury ever.

Gerry Tan ● 4260d

Especially for Gerryhttp://www.express.co.uk/life-style/food/480187/Wagyu-beef-sold-in-AldiNow that (as long as the quality is good) will set the asparagus off lovely with some jersey royals

Tracey Mehdizadeh ● 4260d

Sam and Debbie, couldn't agree with you more. Last year we bought those thin asparagus(es) from Thailand and although tender, they were tasteless.  Noything like home sourced and grown asparagus

Gerry Tan ● 4260d

Non UK asparagus is just not worth buying for all sorts of reasons, mainly flavour!

Sam Salisbury ● 4260d

We've been looking for it - see the first post!

Philippa Bond ● 4260d

Asparagus is grown in the UK, why are you buying imported stuff?Think of the carbon footprint and air miles that Asparagus has created.

Debbie Edwards ● 4261d

I was in a hurry - the word I wanted was "intensifies" not enhances.  Coop asparagus was from Italy.  Waitrose have Suffolk and Peruvian.  Cudi also had it - forgot to look where from.

Philippa Bond ● 4261d

Came back to this after I'd bought some Coop asparagus and eaten it...  roasted again.  Gerry have you tried it roasted yet?  It enhances the flavour.  Also the asparagus I ate in Oxfordshire was whole stems which had been peeled at the tougher end.  The usual way is to bend the stem and break off the tougher part (cook's treat to eat) but this way you don't have to cook/eat it separately and none is wasted.I'll have to try your salad for a something I prepared earlier occasion.

Philippa Bond ● 4262d

As you're keen on asparagus Philippa and the weather's turning fine on Sat, try this asparagus, celery and watercress salad: Boil a bundle of asparagus and half a doz sticks of celery. Cool then and chop into bite size pieces, add some fresh water cress, sprinkle with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and fine cut garlic over the salad and eat with croutons or pieces of crusty bread. Do try it - delicious salad.

Gerry Tan ● 4267d

GerryNot enough!  I like a bigger vegetable to meat ratio.  I know that you can add more but they are very boring in comparison to what often comes with the main course.If you choose particular dishes on the menu there are no vegetables.  At least with Cote the last time I went they did a very good green salad to go with the steak frites.I tried after voting to get taken to Cote but they were rather full so ended up at Cafe Rouge.  Unfortunately they didn't have the asparagus that I was hoping for on their menu. :(  But went back to Oxfordshire last weekend and had that starterx2 as lunch.  :)I did read in the flyer from the Coop that they were selling British asparagus so may try and remember to have a look.

Philippa Bond ● 4267d

I bought some beautiful new season asparagus from the farmers market on Saturday. Had it with minted potatoes and lemon sole - delicious!

Kelly Cornfield ● 4274d

Yes, I agree - I use Cudi also for fruit & veg. I've not seen English asparagus there though. Have you?

Sam Salisbury ● 4274d

I'm not a big fan of using Wikipedia as a reference, but it has a good description of umami:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UmamiGetting scientific for a brief moment, (often natural) glutamates and nucleotides in the food we eat hit specific taste receptor cells on our tongues helping us enjoy eating certain foods. Parmesan cheese, soya sauce and mushrooms are good umami rich food examples (at least on our table). Umami, sweet, bitter, salty and sour flavours all have their own distinct taste receptor cells, apparently.[Tune in next week for the Maillard reaction!]

Thomas Bonasera ● 4274d

Don't know who sells the best new season English asparaguses(asparagii perhaps?), but we tend to get our veg from Cudi Stores or International Stores near Dean Gardens in West Ealing and they're always fresh and cheap - certainly much cheaper than Waitrose veg.Btw, we steam our asparagus and serve them with butter or olive oil.

Gerry Tan ● 4274d

Who's selling the best English asparagus at the moment? I've had Lidl (not bad at all), Sainsburys (not great) and Waitrose (about the same as Lidl but twice the price).Anyone found any really good stuff??

Sam Salisbury ● 4274d

What exactly disappoints you about the vegetables at Cote Philippa?

Gerry Tan ● 4274d

That's interesting because although I've eaten at Cote quite a lot (considering we don't eat out often) I've found their menus decidedly disappointing vegetable-wise. Disappointing enough to put me off eating there more often...

Philippa Bond ● 4275d

Speaking about asparagus, we had new season asparagus for our lunch at Cote today - delicious, followed by roasted sea bass and later iced berries and white chocolate sauce - set menu was cheap and great value. We love asparagus.

Gerry Tan ● 4276d

I'm going to have to try some new recipes!

Philippa Bond ● 4276d

Ben, that sounds delicious, I am going to try that tomorrow.

Jaz Brown ● 4280d

That's delicious Ben - it makes a fine lunch.

Gerry Tan ● 4280d

Yummy with mushrooms (best if they are wild) in a risotto. Serve with a salad, chilled white wine and warm bread.

Ben Owen ● 4280d

Asparagus - yum.Just don't follow an eater into the loo!Love it with poached salmon and a good blob of hallandaise.

Nigel Brooks ● 4280d

The asparagus season is now and will only last 'til the end of June'ish.We love asparagus boiled al dente and eaten with plain olive oil or Hollandaise sauce. When I had allotments at Ascott Ave ealing, we grew a large bed of asparagus - there's nothing better than fresh asparagus eaten cold as a salad with poached salmon say and dipping mayonnaise or olive oil. Makes a delicious soup too.

Gerry Tan ● 4280d