A couple of days ago husband Geoff returned from his lunchtime bike ride (zero food miles!) with a small rucksack full of the first asparagus of the Spring bought from Portwood Asparagus in Great Ellingham, Norfolk. With the exception of my son Tom, we all love asparagus in our household and look forward to the few weeks of the year when we can buy it locally straight from the field.
As we eat so much of it we opt for buying the kitchen grade asparagus, usually a mixture of different sized spears, which is a bargain at £4.50 a kilo. Although there are many ways to cook and serve asparagus our favourite is to roast it gently with some good extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkling of sea salt – this usually takes about 15-20 minutes. The spears are done when the tips turn a golden brown colour. Then it’s out of the oven and a quick grinding of black pepper before eating it – with our fingers of course!
