Asparagus, Haricot and Wild Garlic

Fancy something special to celebrate the first proper day of April Showers (on May the 3rd)? This asparagus dish is the perfect way to welcome this most seasonal of ingredients into 2021. Balanced with the light acidity of mustard and charred lemon, this dish also works as a great way to use up extras like the handful of tiny shiitake mushrooms you may notice crept onto my plate. For this recipe, you will need a tasty salsa verde (Spanish-style). Feel free to make any you like or buy one, but for a truly seasonal blend of flavours, try my wild garlic salsa verde recipe.

For me, asparagus highlights the kind of special reverence we should have in celebrating the seasonality of every ingredient we grow. In the same way Italian families get together once a year to process their tomato crops and store them in their cellars for the rest of the year, I believe we should be afforded the time to make the most of our crops. Imagine the sense of community if we organised national holidays around the availability of certain foods and allowed families and neighbourhoods to get together and share the work (whilst enjoying a drink in the sun). Perhaps it’s just me? I know some people that would think of this as a lot of hard work when they could just buy the food from a supermarket all year round instead. But when we consider the nutrition of a tomato grown out of season compared to one grown in the height of summer, they are two completely different foods. This goes for everything we grow. So perhaps I’m not mad? Perhaps, one day, much like the “Dig for Britain” campaign during the Second World War, we could see a real effort on the part of our government to support it’s people in the time and effort required to organise such dates in our food calendar.

But that’s enough of a tangent for me. Suffice to say, when you eat your wonderfully tasty asparagus, think about how much fun it would be if we treated all ingredients with the same regard.

Preparing Asparagus

When it comes to the preparation of asparagus, most of you will probably be very familiar with this classic spring time ingredient. But for those who aren’t, there is a golden rule in knowing which part of the plant it woody and which is tender. Take hold of the plant in both hands and place your thumb towards the base of the shoot. Bend the asparagus as though you were gently testing it’s flexibility until you snap it. You’ll notice that just above the whiter part of the plant the shoot won’t bend much at all, but above will be flexible. You want to aim to snap the plant as close to the woody part as possible and the plant will take care of the rest, naturally breaking where it is too touch to eat.

Asparagus, Haricot and Wild Garlic Recipe
Serves 2 / Light main

• 100g shiitake mushrooms (or anything else you want to use up)

• 350g asparagus, prepped

• 1 lemon

• 250g haricot beans

• 25g wholegrain mustard

• 2 cloves of garlic

• 20ml olive oil

• 2tbs salsa verde

• Microgreens to finish

Step 1.

Soak and cook your dried haricot beans. Soak overnight in cold water and cook the following day in refreshed and salted water. If you’re cooking them in a regular pan then bring them to a boil and continue to simmer them for 1 and a half hours. If you have a pressure cooker you can reduce this time by half.

Alternatively, you can buy a tin of cooked haricot beans.

Step 2.

Using a zester or sharp peeler, remove a thin layer of the lemon zest from half of the lemon and set aside for later. Half the lemon, then cut one half in two. Heat a frying pan with a tiny drop of oil and place the lemon wedges face down in it. After a minute or two, gently turn the lemons onto the exposed side to char evenly.

Step 3.

Whilst the lemons are charring, prepare the asparagus and garlic. Snap the tender asparagus and roughly chop the garlic. When the lemon is cooked, remove it from the pan and add a little more oil to loosen any sticky sugars they may have left behind. Add your mushrooms and asparagus to the pan with a pinch of salt and pepper.

Continue to cook on a medium high heat, tossing the ingredients around from time to time to make sure they cook evenly. By allowing the asparagus to char a little, we release greater depth of flavour with a bitterness that makes the rest of the ingredient taste sweeter by contrast.

Step 4.

Whilst the asparagus fries, add your drained haricot beans to a blender with 20ml of extra virgin olive oil (the good stuff), 1 clove of garlic, 25g of wholegrain mustard, a pinch of salt and the juice of the remaining half a lemon (25ml). Blend until smooth and set aside.

Step 5.

Right before the asparagus and mushrooms are finished cooking, add the garlic to the pan and fry for a couple of minutes until golden brown all over. Add 2 hefty tablespoons of salsa verde to the pan and toss the ingredients around in it. If needs be, loosen the salsa up with more oil. Whilst this cooks for a minute, spread your haricot paste onto your plates or keep it in a bowl for a dip. Once done, tip your frying pan ingredients on top and drizzle the salsa oil over everything as a sauce. Lastly, finely julienne your peeled lemon zest and sprinkle over the top of the dish. Pop your charred lemon wedge on the side and sprinkle with microgreens or bean shoots and enjoy.