Asparagus Mimosa

I recently purchased the Ottolenghi book Plenty, I have to say with summer vegetables starting to come into season I am pretty excited about some of the recipes.

Last week I also purchased a organic veg box and was delighted to find a bunch of extremely fresh asparagus. This asparagus was organic and it was the first British batch I have managed to get a hold of which wasn’t from a supermarket. I have to say with this simple Aspargus Mimosa recipe I found in my Plenty book I was blown away.

This meal only takes 15/20 mins including time for cooling and serves two.

Step 1) Firstly boil the eggs for 8-10 minutes, once these are cooked remove them from the water and set aside to cool.

Step 2) Break/slice the rough ends off the ends of the asparagus and boil for 3 minutes, season with a pinch of salt. Do not overcook as this will lead to the loss of flavour in the asparagus. Once the 3 minutes is up drain the asparagus and set aside to cool a little.

Step 3) Peel your boiled eggs

Step 4) Lay out your bunches of asparagus on the plates

Step 5) Add a large tsp of capers onto the asparagus

Step 6) Grate your now cooled boiled eggs over the dishes.

Step 7) Drizzle a small amount of extra virgin olive oil over the asparagus, capers and grated boiled egg.

Step 8) Optional, I decided to fry a bit of halloumi with paprika to bulk the meal up.

(I know this doesn’t look very pretty but it tasted amazing)

Ingredients:

1) Extra virgin olive oil

2) Bunch of organic asparagus

3) 2 boiled eggs

4) Capers ( at least two tsp worth)

5) Pinch of salt

6) Halloumi (optional)

7) Squeeze of lemon (optional)

English asparagus and gnocchi salad

Finally English asparagus is coming into season and I managed to get hold of some last night which was from Hampshire. I never eat asparagus when it is out of season, so expect lots of asparagus recipes over the coming months.

I had been out for a drink after work and really didn’t feel capable of a long cooking session. This dish is tasty and full of carbs and literally will take you 10 minutes and the vegan cheese gave it nice nutty taste. I can’t wait to make it again.

Gnocchi and asparagus salad with Vegusto vegan cheese donated by my vegan friend James.

Steps:

1) Boil the kettle with enough water for the gnocchi and to simmer the asparagus

2) Slice ingredients, pepper, asparagus, cherry tomatos

3) Boil the Gnocchi for 3 minutes

4) Simmer in a frying pan of water your asparagus add some salt

4) Drain gnocchi and add the Vegusto cheese and stir in. The cheese should melt

5) Drain you asparagus and add with pepper and salad to the bowl of Gnocchi

6) Add a drop of olive oil and squeeze half a lemon and stir

7) Serve up

Recipe Ingredients:

• English Asparagus
• Fresh Gnocchi
• Pea shoot salad
• Half a yellow pepper
• A handful of cherry tomatoes
• Dollop of olive oil
• Salt
• Half a lemon
• Vegusto vegan cheese