Throughout the restaurant year, there are moments when creativity becomes effortless, where nature itself writes a menu. This might sound flowery and overly romantic, but let me tell you – when you’re working long hours from morning until night, it can feel like respite when asparagus season arrives.
Here in Ireland, it lands toward the middle of spring, with a short season that reaches toward the opening chapters of summer. At its peak in late April and early May, it’s truly one of nature’s great gifts. It tends to arrive alongside morel mushrooms from the continent, with early-season peas and radishes from home along with beautiful spring lamb from the hills and inshore fish as the weather improves. All of this makes for a happy and fulfilling marriage on the plate.
Asparagus itself is perennial and grows quickly, up to five inches a day. It should be served as quickly as possible, while the stem is snapping and the natural sweetness is abundant. As you’ll see in this week’s recipes, a handy trick from the restaurant kitchen is to blanch your spears in boiling water seasoned with both salt and sugar; it makes a world of difference.
While both recipes this week are simple, they rely on the quality of the ingredients. This is the type of cooking where there is nowhere to hide.
The first brings asparagus spears together with a classic sauce vierge, using ripened tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil and lots of green herbs seasoned with salt and lemon juice. A poached egg crowns the jewels. Yes, it’s simple, but unless you have snappy spears, sweet tomatoes and spicy olive oil, this just won’t land as it should.
The second dish is more of a midweek meal, using up the smaller asparagus spears along with some frozen peas in an emulsified lemon glaze for a light linguine dish. If you can source chervil, it works really well here – if not, just add some extra chopped dill.
This is simple cooking, but it exemplifies the true quality mark of cookery. When the ingredients are this good, let them speak for themselves – we are fortunate enough to have them on our doorstep, after all.
