I grew up in Loire Valley a few miles from Tours.
Each year at the end of May my mum would drive to Bourgeuil, a little town famous for its wines but also for its white and purple asparagus. My brothers and sisters, aunties and uncles, grandmothers, neighbours and close friends would all go with my mum to get the first asparagus of the year. It had to be the first crop as that was the best, my family would never settle for anything less. My mum would bring home at least 12 to 20 kilos of asparagus and my dad would peel them and sterilise them into Le Parfait jars so we could eat them all year round.
A couple of years ago James Mackie of Barnhill Farm in Inchinnan phoned me and explained that he planned to grow these little green sticks called Albaragus and I thought he was out of his mind, it sounded extremely hard work and even more labour to add to his daily job. He sent me a nice bundle of the Albaragus and when they came in they were very irregular in shape, dirty, uneven vegetables and had a slight purple and dark green colour. I quickly realised that this was something special and that a vegetable like this deserves to be cooked and consumed very quickly after it's been cut. They are extremely tasty with a deep nutty flavour; they are crunchy and hard on the teeth even after they've been cooked but extremely rewarding and worth the effort.
Albaragus will cook very quickly. I'd recommend peeling only the largest one. Add them to salted boiling water for a few minutes and serve straight away whilst they're still warm. They go perfectly with salted butter or with a dollop of seasoned crème fraiche. The recipe possibilities are endless; add them to your fishcake mix, season them in a salad with lemon dressing or red wine vinaigrette or fry them in olive oil for a few minutes and use them in your sandwich with smoked salmon or salted beef. They will accompany any fish but I'd say they work better with white fish.
Experiment! That's what cooking is all about. Have fun and enjoy this extremely flavoursome Scottish seasonal ingredient.
Bon appétit.
Oeuf Cocotte of Barra Snails and Cockles with Albaragus - serves 4
Ingredients
2 bunches of Albaragus/asparagus
24 snails
1 tsp. butter, plus extra for greasing
1 shallot, finely diced
1 kilo of fresh cockles
1 glass of whipping cream
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs of thyme
4 tbsp. crème fraiche
4 eggs
To serve
Toasted bread
Method
1. Sauté the snails in a small pan with the butter and finely diced shallots for a few minutes.
2. In a separate dry pan, cook your fresh cockles with the bay leaves and thyme. Keep stirring until the cockles have opened up. Remove the shell from the cockles and add the meat into the pan with the snails.
3. Keep the juice from the cockles and add the whipping cream. Gently heat through and reduce until you have a coating consistency.
4. Cook your Albaragus (instructions above). Roughly chop and add to the snail and cockle pan. Keep everything warm.
5. Grease four ramekins with butter and sprinkle the snails and cockles into the base. Next, pour a generous helping of the reduced creamy sauce into each ramekin followed by an egg and one tablespoon of crème fraiche. Cook the ramekins in the oven at 180°C for eight minutes. The eggs should come out of the oven with a soft yolk. Serve with toasted bread or soldiers and enjoy.
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