#21 - The Asparagus Edition
Hello team!
Before we get into the recipes, I just wanted to let you know that Waterstones are very kindly offering a 25% discount code on my cookbook for my newsletter readers. The code is Tucking24, and you can pre-order it here if you’d like a copy to drop on your doormat on 13th June (so soon now, eek).
I’d also like to give you a heads up that I’m going to be doing my next supper club in London on 21st May. Pop it in your diaries, tickets will be released on here very soon.
British asparagus season has begun, and after a long winter, it is very nice to see something crunchy and green arriving at our tables. This week’s newsletter celebrates asparagus with two recipes - a 10 minute pasta dish and probably the nicest salad I’ve eaten all year.
You’ll also be getting a run down of my favourite things I got up to in Porto, should anyone need some holiday reccos.
Enjoy dudes!
Sophie x
The Recipes
Asparagus and Lemon Pasta
This recipe uses a carbonara style, egg thickened sauce to bring you a VERY quick dinner. Asparagus has such a lovely natural flavour that you don’t really want to overcomplicate what you are eating it with, so lemon and parmesan are just the ticket.
Serves 4
400g spaghetti
4 egg yolks
2 lemons
90g parmesan
300g asparagus
handful of parsley leaves
salt and pepper
Bring a large pan of water up to a boil, and salt it generously. Add your spaghetti, and cook it for 6 minutes.
Add your egg yolks to large metal or glass bowl, then zest in both your lemons and squeeze in the juice of one. Grate in your parmesan, then add lots of black pepper. Beat it so it’s all combined.
Finely chop your parsley.
Cut your asparagus diagonally into 5cm pieces, discarding the woody ends. Once your 6 minutes is up, add this to your spaghetti pan, and cook it for 2 minutes more.
Drain your pasta and asparagus (saving a good mugful of the cooking water), then tip it into your egg mixture, along with a big splash of pasta water. Give it a really good mix, adding more splashes of pasta water until it is emulsified and glossy. Adjust the seasoning with more salt and lemon, if you need it, then add your parsley.
Tong your spaghetti onto plates, and top it with a little more parmesan, lemon zest and black pepper. Serve it up.
Asparagus and Potato Tonnato Salad
A tonnato sauce may sound funky to the uninitiated (whizzed up tuna mayo? Really?), but trust me when I say that it is fabulous with quite a lot of things. Traditionally it is served with veal and capers in Piedmontese cooking, though it is also great with a tomato salad (see Ed Smith’s one in On the Side), with crudités, and indeed with this salad here.
Potatoes and asparagus are the belles of the season right now, so they take centre stage in this one. It makes a blooming lovely weekend lunch.
Serves 2