Simply delicious Cornish asparagus

One of the simplest and most delicious ways of serving Cornish asparagus. 

Steamed asparagus, fried or grilled dry-cured bacon, poached free-range egg and a sprinkling of freshly-ground black pepper. 

Maybe some steamed Cornish new potatoes.

That’s all.

Seasonal recipe No 46: Shaved asparagus and goat’s cheese salad

This unusual recipe using raw asparagus is from Mark Hix.  It’s recommended by Camel CSA picking and packing volunteer Henrietta Danvers.  Use freshly-picked Cornish asparagus of course.

Mark writes a weekly food column in The Independent.  He says: “Raw asparagus might seem a little odd, but it’s actually delicious, and offers a vastly different eating experience to the cooked variety.”

Serves 4

Preparation: 10 minutes
Resting time: 10 minutes
Cooking: zero

Ingredients
A couple of handfuls of small salad leaves
12 or so stems of thick asparagus, woody stalks trimmed
120-150g soft goat’s cheese
salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the dressing:
juice of 1 lemon
3-4tbsp extra-virgin rapeseed oil

Method
With a sharp mandolin or with a very sharp knife, slice the asparagus as thinly as possible on the angle and place in a bowl. Mix all of the ingredients for the dressing, season well and mix with the asparagus and leave for 10 minutes. Toss the asparagus with the leaves and arrange on plates. Crumble the goat’s cheese over the salad and serve immediately.

Other ways of preparing asparagus

More Cornish asparagus in the veg boxes

Make the most of it! There’s another bunch of Lower Croan’s newly-picked Cornish asparagus in the boxes. 

Find out more about Cornish asparagus

All the boxes have: -
Cornish asparagus (Lower Croan, Sladesbridge)
Cornish new potatoes (JH Allen & Sons, Marazion)
spring greens (West Cornwall)
*salad bag (Jeremy Brown)
*green garlic (Jeremy)

The standard boxes also have: -
*parsley (Camel CSA)
*baby beetroot (Jeremy)
as well as extra potatoes and *salad leaves

 
Next week we can look forward to mixed rocket and maybe the first crop of this season’s basil from Jeremy Brown at St Kew Harvest.

Cornish Earlies in the veg boxes

We have some more of those small Cornish Early new potatoes to enjoy in our vegetable boxes this week. They come from the milder climes of Penwith in west Cornwall, which is always the first UK region to lift new potatoes in the spring. We’ve also got another bunch of that delicious Cornish asparagus.

In all the veg boxes we can expect: -
Cornish Early new potatoes (Penwith)
Cornish asparagus (Lower Croan, Sladesbridge)
cauliflower (West Cornwall)
* spinach (Jeremy Brown)
* salad bag (Jeremy)

Seasonal Recipe No 44: Cornish asparagus with bacon and parmesan

The Cornish asparagus in our veg boxes comes from Gill and Roger Derryman at Lower Croan, Sladesbridge near Wadebridge.

It’s a busy life on their mixed farm beef and cereal farm. The Derrymans produce prime organic beef from their suckler cows.  Most of the cereals grown are fed back to the cattle. They have five acres of asparagus they sell at the farm gate and to local retailers over six to eight weeks in May and early June.

It’s a very time-consuming and labour-intensive crop. At this time of year Roger is out cutting the asparagus spears daily from 7am so Gill (pictured) can start selling them from 10am onwards.

As everything is so late this year, we can look forward to having this very seasonal vegetable in our boxes until about mid-June.

Gill has lots of recipe ideas for asparagus, but this is her favourite as it’s so easy. It makes a light lunch dish with new potatoes, or a simple starter.

Serves 4

Preparation: 5-10 minutes
Cooking: 10 minutes

250g Cornish asparagus (around 8 spears)
150g dry-cured back bacon
1 tbsp butter or olive oil
50g thinly-shaved parmesan cheese
freshly-ground black pepper

Method
Gill says:

Fry the chopped bacon in the butter or oil until crisp.  Meanwhile, snap off the ends of the asparagus stems and steam the spears upright for no longer than five minutes.  Place them on a warmed dish, top with the crispy bacon and sprinkle with parmesan shavings.  Serve with Cornish new potatoes.

How to cook British asparagus – the basics

Other asparagus recipe ideas: -

Sensational recipes for British asparagus
Blanched asparagus with almonds, shallots and lemon
Roasted asparagus salad with honey toasted goat’s cheese