Singing the praises of

Lady Claire Macdonald serves up two tasty dishes made with this versatile vegetable, which will enhance any occasion whether it’s an alfresco lunch with friends or a family supper

Eating food in its rightful season in the United Kingdom means that eating throughout the 12 months of the year is a treat. Right now, we are beginning to find asparagus on the shelves of shops – further south, asparagus has been selling for two or three weeks but it takes time to filter north and on to our shelves.

Asparagus is one of the greatest seasonal treats. I know it is on sale every month, but asparagus imported from Chile or Mexico is a completely different thing to British-grown asparagus. It is low in flavour and just not worth buying – the same applies to strawberries grown outside the UK, but strangely, raspberries and blueberries retain more of their distinctive tastes if imported from closer to home, for example from Spain.

British asparagus makes thinking what to eat each day so simple – asparagus enhances anything and pretty well everything. The quickest of lunches or suppers for us consists of roasted asparagus with prosciutto crudo – parma ham. Asparagus is delicious with eggs (see the omelette recipe), with cheese – especially parmesan – with fish, white and smoked, with shellfish, with chicken, with pork, including bacon and ham, lamb and beef. In fact, I can only bring to mind one thing with which I do not like to eat asparagus and that is tomatoes.

Asparagus, steamed, forms a delicious part of a green salad. And it can be the perfect first course, accompanied by melted butter, by hollandaise sauce or served cold, by a simple vinaigrette, sharpened not with vinegar but with lemon juice.

Asparagus makes a perfect soup which can be served warm, or cold, with the addition of flaked crabmeat (see recipe, right) or plain, just as it is. Asparagus makes a most delicious tart, with cheesy pastry, but the asparagus spears must be steamed until barely tender before being baked in the creamy set tart filling. Asparagus can be made into a mousse – in fact, asparagus can be turned into many most delicious dishes during its season, which usually runs for 6-8 weeks.

I feel sure that preparing asparagus is known to many of you, but just in case you are a first-time asparagus cook, snap each stalk close to the opposite end to the spear – fresh asparagus should snap just where the too-tough-to-eat lower end of the stalk begins. Then either put the prepared asparagus stalks into a steamer, and steam till just tender when stuck with the tip of a knife, or put the prepared stalks side by side on a baking tray.

Season with good salt, drizzle olive or rapeseed oil over all, in a very thin trickle and roast in a hot oven, 180C/200 Fan/400F/Gas Mark 6, for 15-20 minutes. It is hard to be exact because asparagus varies so much in thickness. Seek out the thicker stalks to buy, not the rather weedy thin asparagus. And just make the most of this delicious vegetable during its season.