British Asparagus with soft boiled duck egg

Srping has sprung well alledgedly anyway. All the lovely new produce is hitting the shops and we did have an unseasonable warm spell last week. Shame I'm now sitting here with a huge cup of tea and in my winter hoodie trying to warm up.

In celebration of this and the delightful discovery of the new season British asparagus in M&S yesterday I thought I'd indulge for lunch today. Knowing son no1 would think I was poisoning him if I suggested he joined us it was just the Husband and myself. Little did I know that son no2 who had already eaten lunch at nursery would want in on the act too. Bless him, my little 3yo wolfed down a good portion of this, clearly he's inherited his mother's good taste !!

A quick aside on the subject of asparagus I will never ever (to quote Charlie & Lola) buy anything other than British asparagus. There is just nothing like it and having been disappointed before it's British all the way now.

So, on to our lunch today and even if I do say so myself it was delicious. The crunchiness of the toast with the freshness of the asparagus and topped off with the rich oily yolk of the duck egg...

ASPARAGUS WITH SOFT BOILED DUCK EGG AND SOURDOUGH TOAST
serves 2-3


This is so simple it barely even needs a recipe but don't let that fool you. It is just so unbelievably tasty. Firstly the raw ingredients

Boil the duck eggs for 6 minutes - this gave us perfectly soft boiled eggs. Slice the bread and pop in the toaster and then cook the asparagus to your preference. I lightly boiled it but steaming or griddling would also work.

Assemble the plates and season to taste and then tuck in dunking and dipping to your hearts content.

Balsamic lamb salad

Ok, so maybe a bit of an exaggeration ! For the first time in months the sun has been shining, the weather warm enough to think about digging out my summer clothes and most of my menu features something with salad and new potatoes.

The foodie joys of summer, Jersey Royal potatoes, English asparagus and English strawberries which taste like proper strawberries. Ice cream, barbeques etc etc etc

So, after a rummage through my fridge I came up with this rather adapted salad. The original recipe is from an Australian website but I felt that while it was nice, it was lacking something.



BALSAMIC LAMB SALAD
serves 2

2 lamb leg steaks
1 tbsp each of balsamic vinegar and garlic oil
1/2 large butternut squash peeled and cut into chunks
1 red onion cut into wedges
1 bunch of asparagus cut into thirds
Salad leaves and new potatoes to serve
Mix the oil and vinegar together and coat the lamb. Marinate for at least 30 minutes
Heat the oven to about 190C, toss the onion and squash in olive oil and roast until tender. Add the asparagus for the last five minutes.
Heat a griddle pan (this will be very hard to clean afterwards !) and sear the lamb for about 3-4 mins a side depending on how pink you like the lamb and how thick the steaks are.
Rest then cut on the diagonal.
Assemble the salad and add a dressing of olive oil and balsamic vinegar if you wish.