British Asparagus

[PB30]

For the past 2 weeks I have been using recipes from the British Asparagus web site and I feel great, as well as losing weight.

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[Hidden]

Good for you! We have got some from our own patch, cut over the last 3 days. Having for dinner starter in a little while. yum yum. Live near Vale of Evesham, so also lots of local asparagus to be had if we haven't got enough!

[PB30 in reply to Hidden]

Excellent. If only fresh asparagus was available all year round.

[Tiggerr in reply to PB30]

I have my own patch and there does come a point when I get sick of the sight of it.... at least until the next year. I haven't reached that stage yet but it always happens.

My favourite at the moment is a breakfast of bacon, a couple of fried eggs and fried asparagus. Served that to my dad yesterday and he loved it.

[PB30 in reply to Tiggerr]

Sounds good. My favourite is steak cut into strips, asparagus and peas covered in a mixture of soy and chilli sauce, yum.

[Hidden in reply to Tiggerr]

Tiggerr, if you have a big patch it's worth growing some of it as autumn asparagus. Let some of the ferns grow on now without cutting any. This replenishes the root system as normal. Then you cut it all down in August and harvest spears til October. I expect one could do an intermediate version of this to get July and August asparagus, but I haven't tried it.

[Nannymakee in reply to Hidden]

Anna is it ok to eat the tops when they bolt up?I've not been to our allotment for a while and they've shot up I did pick some of the top thought they might be ok in a rissotto

[Hidden in reply to Nannymakee]

It is. I have eaten summer side shoots on occasions, raw in salad. It depends really how big they are. If the top of the spear is still closed then it will be ok. Cut it at the base, which may be a little tougher, and somewhere along the length you will find where it gets tender. You can use the tougher ends to make soup. Boil it a bit til soft and whizz it, put it through a sieve to get rid of the stringy bits. I keep the spears cooking water for this. Happy eating!

[Nannymakee in reply to Hidden]

Thanks Anna for your reply x

[Tiggerr in reply to Hidden]

Interesting. I don't cut them for too long until I get bored then let them all bolt, only removing the ferns once they've dried up.

If I haven't sold the house by August then, it's worth giving it a try with a couple of the rows and see if I can get that to work.

Cheers!

[BridgeGirl Administrator 2 stone]

I love it, can't get enough of it in season. Lunch tomorrow is asparagus with serrano ham or similar and a duck egg I shall have a look at that website

[PB30 in reply to BridgeGirl]

Very nice. I hadn't tasted fresh asparagus until recently, I will be disappointed when the season ends.

[JiminyCricket 7lbs]

Ill cgeck out their website! We eat it most days at the moment as ive got a big patch of it. I love it. Usually i just have it boiled for a minute or 2 with a sprinkle of salt