Pancakes - Asparagus, pancetta & gruyere

Ingredients 120g plain flour, 2 eggs, 210ml milk, 90ml water, 1 tbsp vegetable oil, butter, asparagus, pancetta, gruyere, basil oil.

Makes: 6 pancakes Preparation: 40 minutes


Pancetta and asparagus are lovely together; salty and rich, which in combination with the gooey gruyere is heavenly!


1) Mix the flour with a pinch of salt in a large bowl, make a well in the centre and crack in the eggs.


2) Measure 90ml water in a pyrex jug, then top it up to 300ml with milk.
Beat the eggs into the flour with a wooden spoon and gradually beat in the milk and water mixture until smooth.


3) Stir in the vegetable oil and leave to rest for at least 30 minutes but preferably an hour.


4) Drizzle the asparagus with a little basil oil, sprinkle with salt, stir in the pancetta and grill for 5 minutes.


5) Heat a non-stick frying pan until very hot, then add a small knob of butter. Pour in one ladle of batter, quickly turning the pan off the heat to coat the base evenly with the batter. Return to the hob and cook for about one minute, until the base is lightly browned. I like to use a spatula or palette knife to just loosen the edges of the pancake - once the air gets under it you will find it does not stick to the pan but slide about which helps it to flip!


5) Flip over the pancake (if you have a clumsy wrist, slide the pancake onto a plate, then tip the pan over the plate and turn it upside down. No one will ever know!


6) Once the pancake has cooked on both sides, serve with the gruyere, asparagus and pancetta.

Pancakes - Asparagus almond & gruyere

Ingredients 120g plain flour, 2 eggs, 210ml milk, 90ml water, 1 tbsp vegetable oil, butter, 200g asparagus, handful toasted almond flakes, grated gruyere to taste, basil oil.

Makes: 6 pancakes Preparation: 40 minutes


I have combined almonds and asparagus several times in this blog and there's a blimmin good reason for that! They're made for each other and with a gooey helping of gruyere this pancake is oh so good.


1) Mix the flour with a pinch of salt in a large bowl, make a well in the centre and crack in the eggs.


2) Measure 90ml water in a pyrex jug, then top it up to 300ml with milk.
Beat the eggs into the flour with a wooden spoon and gradually beat in the milk and water mixture until smooth.


3) Stir in the vegetable oil and leave to rest for at least 30 minutes but preferably an hour.


4) Drizzle the asparagus with a little basil oil, sprinkle with salt and grill for 5 minutes.


5) Heat a non-stick frying pan until very hot, then add a small knob of butter. Pour in one ladle of batter, quickly turning the pan off the heat to coat the base evenly with the batter. Return to the hob and cook for about one minute, until the base is lightly browned. I like to use a spatula or palette knife to just loosen the edges of the pancake - once the air gets under it you will find it does not stick to the pan but slide about which helps it to flip!


6) Flip over the pancake (if you have a clumsy wrist, slide the pancake onto a plate, then tip the pan over the plate and turn it upside down. No one will ever know!


7) Once the pancake has cooked on both sides, serve filled with grated gruyere, the almonds and the asparagus.

Almond & asparagus risotto

Ingredients Asparagus, 75g almond slivers, 1 pint vegetable stock, 50g gruyere, 1 1/2 cups risotto rice, onion, butter, vermouth.

Serves: 4 Preparation: 30 minutes

This might just be the best risotto I have ever created. Toasted almond and asparagus are perfect partners - the nutty, buttery flavour components of both ingredients fuse together perfectly and the triple hit of the nutty, caramel flavour of gruyere makes this risotto a completely hedonistic treat.
All risottos (no matter what the ingredients) can be made in 3 simple stages. The first is called tostatura - coating the rice in fat, the second involves cooking off some alcohol and the third involves releasing the starch from the rice one ladle of stock at a time.

1) Finely dice the onion and sautee in a little butter until soft. Add the risotto rice and stir until the rice becomes transparent, revealing a white dot in the centre and pour in a glug of vermouth.
2) Once the alcohol cooks off, add the first ladle of stock and stir through.

3) In a seperate pan, lightly toast the almond slivers, shaking and turning the pan until they just turn golden brown. Keeping a few to garnish the risotto, crush the toasted almonds in a mortar and pestle until they resemble fine crumbs.4) Continue adding the stock to the risotto, one ladle at a time, adding the ground almonds and aspragus with the second to last ladle of stock.
5) Stir through the grated gruyere, finish with freshly grated black pepper and the remaining toasted almonds and serve.

If you don't have any almonds, you could stir in a teaspoon of almond butter instead.

Pea & asparagus risotto

Ingredients 1 pint vegetable or ham stock, 125g asparagus, 75g peas, 1 1/2 cups risotto rice, 1 tbsp chopped mint, 1 white onion, vermouth, butter.

Serves: 4 Preparation: 30 minutes

Pea and mint risotto is a real favourite of mine - whether I give it savoury notes with a little gruyere or parmeggian, or whether I keep it fresh and clean, I never get bored of it. Adding asparagus seems to enhance the freshness of the peas, whilst adding the more complex, nutty savoury notes that I would usually get from the cheese. Perfect if you don't do dairy or are trying to cut down! All risottos (no matter what the ingredients) can be made in 3 simple stages. The first is called tostatura - coating the rice in fat, the second involves cooking off some alcohol and the third involves releasing the starch from the rice one ladle of stock at a time.

1) Finely dice the onion and sautee in a little butter until soft. Add the risotto rice and stir until the rice becomes transparent, revealing a white dot in the centre and pour in a glug of vermouth.
2) Once the alcohol cooks off, add the first ladle of stock and stir through.

3) Continue adding the stock, one ladle at a time, adding the mint, peas and aspragus with the second to last ladle of stock.

4) Finish with freshly grated black pepper and serve.

Asparagus with orange hollandaise

Ingredients 4 eggs, white wine vinegar, zest of 1 orange and juice of 3 oranges, butter, asparagus,

Serves: 2 Preparation: 15 minutes

The nutty, slightly sulphuric taste of asparagus is perfect with dairy and eggs, and citrus fruits bring out the sweet freshness so a hollandaise sauce is the perfect partner to these long, green fingers. I prefer not to peel the stalks when served with orange as I think the extra sweetness and flavour stands up well against the slight bitterness.

1) To make hollandaise sauce separate the egg yolks from the whites, discard the whites and beat the yolks.
2) Mix 1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar with 1 tablespoon of orange juice and heat. Whisk the hot mixture into the egg yolks in a steady stream and continue to whisk until the mixture is smooth.
3) Melt 4oz of butter in a pan on a low heat and pour the egg yolk mixture into the pan in a slow stream whilst continuing to whisk. As the sauce begins to thicken take it off the heat and whisk until thick and glossy.
4) Asparagus can be boiled, steamed or grilled - personally I prefer to grill it for 2-3 minutes, it has a beautiful colour, crunchy texture and doesn't dry out. Heston Blumenthal recommends frying the asparagus off in a tiny amount of oil in a covered pan. It's entirely up to you how you prefer it.

Spinach & asparagus ravioli with sage & pistachio butter

Ingredients  400g spinach, 20 fine asparagus    stalks, 8oz pasta flour, 1 tsp olive oil, 4 eggs, handful of pistachio nuts, 1 tbsp sage, 2 tbsp butter

Serves: 4 Preparation: 1 hour (+5 hours pasta preparation)

I adore pasta and thankfully love making it almost as much as I love to eat it - there's nothing quite like freshly made pasta, fresh from the pot. The combination of flavours in this dish is quite frankly insane but somehow it really works. Sage butter is something that I love with pumpkin or butternut squash ravioli but in this case I made it into more of a pesto using pistachio nuts to balance out the intensity of the sage. This sweetness really brought out the flavour of the asparagus and the spinach provided a freshness that balanced everything out.

1) Pour 8 ounces of grade 00 flour (pasta flour), 1 teaspoon of olive oil, a good pinch of salt, 3 whole eggs and 1 egg yolk into a bowl and kneed with your hands until you have a firm dough. Wrap this in cling film and chill in the fridge for 2-5 hours.

2) Steam the asparagus and 200g of the spinach for 4 minutes, strain as much of the water from the spinach as possible and then completely pulverise in the blender, leaving a thick puree.


3) To prepare the "pesto" finely chop the sage and stir into some gently warmed butter. Finely chop the pistachio nuts/ grind in a mortar and pestle or pulse in the blender. Stir the nuts through and set aside for the flavours to infuse.

4) Dust a worktop with pasta flour and roll out the dough into a sheet 1/3 of a centimetre thick. Cut out squares of pasta with a knife and roll these through a pasta machine (or using a rolling pin if you don't have one) until you have a thin rectangle of pasta. Add a teaspoon of the spinach and asparagus mixture to the centre of the rectandle and fold in half, pinching the ends together firmly like a cornish pasty until each piece is completely sealed.


5) When all the pasta shapes are stuffed, drop them into a large pan of hot, salted water. The pasta will sink to the bottom initially but when it is ready (2-3 minutes maximum unless your pasta is too thick) it will float to the top.

6) Remove the ravioli from the pan with a slotted spoon and transfer to a bowl. Stir through the pesto and serve on a bed of steamed spinach with additional asparagus if you wish.

Dippy duck egg

Ingredients Duck egg, asparagus

I love asparagus, particularly with hollandaise but sometimes, I just crave simplicity!


1) Trim your asparagus and either grill, steam or parboil it for 2-3 minutes


2) The perfect boiled egg usually takes 4-5 minutes depending on the size and freshness of the egg. I boiled this duck egg for 5 minutes - a good indication is   if you take the egg out of the water and the water immediately evaporates from the shell.


3) Lop the top from your egg, then dunk the asparagus in. Mmmm dippy goodness.

Asparagus hollandaise

Ingredients 4 eggs, white wine vinegar, lemon juice, butter, pine nuts, asparagus, rocket, watercress, brie

1) To make hollandaise sauce separate 3 egg yolks from the whites, discard the whites and beat the yolks. 

2) Mix 1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and heat. Whisk the hot mixture into the egg yolks in a steady stream and continue to whisk until the mixture is smooth.

3) Melt 4oz of butter in a pan on a low heat and pour the egg yolk mixture into the pan in a slow stream whilst continuing to whisk. As the sauce begins to thicken take it off the heat and whisk until thick and glossy.

4) Asparagus can be boiled, steamed or grilled - personally I prefer to grill it for 2-3 minutes, it has a beautiful colour, crunchy texture and doesn't dry out

5) Assemble the salad - rocket leaves and watercress, layers of sliced brie (I used Coeur De Lyon - brie should always be French and this has a wonderful honeyed flavour), then the asparagus topped with hollandaise and pine nuts.