It is the season for British grown asparagus - yay! It's taken a while for me to think of asparagus as a yummy food, but I'm there now. Last year, over the short asparagus season, I grew to like these delicious green spears and just over a year ago today, I posted my recipe for asparagus and garden pea risotto.
I've never tried to grow asparagus as it's a labour intensive crop and its two years before you can start picking it! I'm way too impatient for that, but maybe one day.......
Asparagus is pretty good for you too, it's brimming with antioxidents, which help prevent cell damage, and those green spears also provide anti-inflammatory nutrients.
I decided to make soup with the bunch of asparagus I had treated myself too at the weekend, this recipe is super quick and super easy, you just have to give it a go. I could eat this for lunch every day throughout its short growing season.
Ingredients
Splash of olive oil
1 bunch of spring onions
1 bunch asparagus1 Tsp bouillon powder
200ml Hot water
25g Cashews
Salt & Pepper to taste
Sprinkle of hemp seed (optional)
Method
First slice the spring onions and add to a pan with the olive oil and sauté for 1 minute.
Break off the woody ends of the asparagus stems and chop the remainder of the stem into 4-5 pieces. Add to the pan and continue to sauté for another 3 minutes.
Sprinkle the bouillon powder over the vegetables and add a splash of water to stop everything sticking to the bottom of the pan. Sauté for another minute.
You haven't over cooked the vegetables, they will still have a little bite. Put 6 spear tops to one side then add the mixture to a powerful blender (I used my Vitamix) and top with the hot water and the cashews. Please note if you haven't got a powerful blender soak your cashews in water for 1-2 hours so your machine can handle them.
Blend until you have a smooth and creamy liquid. Taste the soup and add salt and pepper to your taste preference, it won't need an awful lot as its pretty darn tasty as it is.
Serve straight away, using the saved asparagus tips as a garnish. Try sprinkling on a little hemp seed too.
Jasmine x
As I've stated previously I'm not a massive fan of asparagus but after making my asparagus and garden pea risotto the other day my opinion changed and I wanted to experiment more with this short seasoned vegetable.
On my last visit to Stone Farmers market I picked up two bunches of asparagus, which are grown very locally. Although expensive I treated myself and decided I would make something rather decadent with them.
I treated my Mum to lunch with this dish and I'm pleased to say she absolutely loved it!
Ingredients - Serves 4
240g Pasta of choice, I used spirals
2 bunches of asparagus
(I had 32 stems in all)
250ml Soy cream
½ Onion, finely diced
1 Garlic clove, minced
1 Handful of Greek basil about 6g
2 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast
3 Tbsp Cashew nuts
Salt & Black pepper
Method
Cook the pasta as per the cooking instructions.
Cut off the tips of the asparagus and reserve, adding them to the last minute of cooking time.
Cut the woody bases off the stems and cut the remaining stem in two. Add to a pan of boiling water and simmer for 5 minutes. Drain and reserve.
Meanwhile add the soy cream, onion and garlic to another pan and bring to a simmer. Turn off the heat and let stand to cool down.
Transfer the asparagus stems, soy cream mixture and basil to a liquidizer and pulse a few times before adding the Greek basil, nutritional yeast, cashew nuts, salt & black pepper. Pulse again a few times before turning on to full power. Liquidize until you have a smooth and silky sauce.
Drain the pasta and asparagus tips and pour the sauce over the top. Gently mix through and serve straight away.
Unfortunately I have been struck down with the dreaded lurgy, which has meant that I haven't been able to cook my Easter Sunday lunch and post the recipe. As soon as I feel better though I shall get to that kitchen and create a recipe worth waiting for. Until then I hope you enjoy the asparagus and garden pea risotto...........
I've never been a massive fan of asparagus, and its always so expensive thanks to its short season, I've never tried to grow it either as it's a labour intensive crop and I'm far too impatient for that. Then, the other day I found a couple of bunches in the knock down section of the local supermarket and I thought OK let's see what all the fuss is about! After all it is known to some as a delicacy.
After a little research I found out that asparagus is pretty good for you, but then again aren't all fruit and vegetables? Asparagus is brimming with antioxidants, which help prevent cell damage, and those green spears also provide anti-inflammatory nutrients. Had I been missing out on a little treat?
I had tried asparagus before and the taste was nothing to shout home about, but perhaps it wasn't the vegetable but the cooking method? You can't go wrong with a risotto in my eyes, a creamy, tasty and heavenly dish, that can be kept simple but still packs a punch in the taste department. So without further a do I set to in my kitchen and my asparagus and garden pea risotto was born...............
Ingredients
1 Tbsp Olive oil
1 Onion, finely diced
1 Garlic clove, crushed
300g Risotto Rice
1.3 Litres of vegetable stock
120g Asparagus, cut into 3cm pieces
380g Frozen peas, defrosted
3 Tbsp Nutritional yeast
35g Garlic & herb toffutti spread
10g Greek basil
Salt & Pepper
Method
Sauté the diced onions in the olive oil for about three minutes or until they start to brown. Add the crushed garlic and sauté for another 2 minutes.
Add 100ml of the vegetable stock, the mixture will bubble furiously, scrape the bottom of the pan to dislodge any onion that has started to stick to the bottom of the pan.
Add the rice and give everything a good stir to coat the rice with the onion, garlic and the little stock. Add 300ml more of the vegetable stock and after a quick stir let simmer until the liquid has been absorbed. Repeat another two times so you use another 600ml of the vegetable stock.
When the vegetable stock has been soaked up, around 10 minutes add the asparagus pieces and another 200ml of the vegetable stock and simmer until the stock has been absorbed.
Add the peas and the final 100ml of vegetable stock and stir to combine, add the nutritional yeast and stir through. Add the toffuti and stir to melt through the mixture.
Add the vitalite and beat through to make the rice glossy. Finally add the Greek basil and stir through before serving.
Hubby fancied Pizza tonight, and was missing the take outs we used to get every now and then. He said he was actually craving pizza and nothing else would suffice. There was only one thing for it, we made pizza. I had bought a bunch of asparagus for a knock down price of 75p only the day before and I was wondering what I could do with it. Asparagus and Olive pizza was born.
I also had a tube of Cheddar style Teese in the fridge, which I wanted to try out and as the packet said it melted I thought it would be suitable for the pizza.
As you can see from the photograph it was very orange and it didn't melt particularly well. In fact I probably won't buy this product again. It tasted chemically almost plastic and it didn't have a very 'cheesy' flavour if I can remember what cheese tastes like!
The asparagus, chopped black olives, basil and onion worked a treat though, you should try this combination. I bet it would work well in a pasta dish to, which I might try as I have 4 spears of asparagus left.
