Asparagus is a bit of a mystery, isn’t it? People don’t know what bits to snap off, which bits to eat and what should go in the bin.

Well, let’s get this confusion cleared up. The only bit you should save and eat is the soft, flowery bit: the rest should go in the bin.

The best way to snap off the end cleanly is to raise the asparagus to eye level, hold its tail and head and bend it until it snaps. Whatever snaps off is what nature intended you to eat.

Now, asparagus works really well with leeks, which are in fact known as poor mans asparagus. As a result, anything leeks can do asparagus can do better.

It’s normally griddled, which works well, but that’s not my sort of thing. I prefer to wrap it in bacon and throw it on the barbecue.

It loves smoked salmon and it’s such a pretty shape that you can wrap the salmon round it. It works well with poached eggs and potatoes and haddock and it also loves boiled rice and pulses.

One of my favourite things to do with it is to take butterbeans, blanched leeks, cooked new potatoes, smoked bacon, ham, mayonnaise and asparagus, mix them all together and stuff them in a baked potato. It’s to die for.

It also makes a good risotto using chicken or vegetable stock. Take some chopped onion and garlic, sweat it in olive oil and cook it very slowly. Chuck in some short grain rice, stir and keep adding your hot stock. After 20 minutes put some chopped chicken in, a big knob of butter, curry powder, sour cream, grated cheese and cooked, chopped asparagus. Put it under the grill to sweat and keep adding the stock. You can also add some coconut and almonds to serve.

Asparagus also makes a wonderful puree. Get a pint of water and chuck in some salt, green vegetables like spinach, cabbage and herbs, new potatoes or stale bread to thicken it up, asparagus, frozen peas and butter and blend and honestly it’s fantastic.

If you’re throwing a party why not get some dates, cut out their centres and stuff them with asparagus, then wrap them in parma ham and serve them with a pickle and mayonnaise dip?

Asparagus also works really well with egg mayonnaise, as a dip and with herbs like tarragon and chervil. It loves pastry and heavy butter sauces like hollandaise.

Now, hollandaise is a classic, proper chef’s sauce. To make it you’ll need two fluid ounces of white wine vinegar, two fluid ounces of water and two fluid ounces of dry white wine. Put these in a pan and reduce them down until you’re left with two fluid ounces in total. Season and add a little drop of cream, then take it off of the heat and add four egg yolks, whisk until the mixture doubles in size and appears fluffy and then slowly add six ounces of melted clarified butter and the juice of half a lemon. Make sure you don’t overwhisk the eggs or boil the butter. If anyone gets it right I will be impressed.

It’s a fantastic sauce and you can do what you want with it.

Asparagus is also fantastic in a cheese and tomato omelette. It’s very delicate but it works really well.

It also loves fish and, as an interesting anecdote, any white fish that is served in a restaurant with asparagus is called princess. One of my favourites is cod with a butter sauce, asparagus, anchovies, capers and boiled new potatoes. A tasty apple, Chinese leave, potato and boiled egg salad with a balsamic vinegar and chilli dressing makes the perfect accompaniment.

The important thing when cooking with asparagus is don’t be frightened of it and do not use it from tins under any circumstances.

The asparagus season is very short and it’s a vegetable that can take a lot of strong flavours so why not experiment and enjoy it while you can?

 

Asparagus can be a bit of an acquired taste but did you know that eating the vegetable can help ease hangovers?

Here are 10 more fascinating facts that you might not know about asparagus.

1 Asparagus is a member of the lily family, along with onion and garlic.

2 Asparagus can grow up to 10 inches in 24 hours.

3 Five ounces of asparagus contains 60% of the recommended daily allowance of folic acid, which prevents heart disease.

4 White asparagus is the same as green asparagus but is grown underground to prevent it photosynthesising. Purple asparagus is genetically modified but turns green when cooked.

5 The German town of Schwetzingen claims to the asparagus capital of the world and holds an annual asparagus festival every May.

6 Each spear of asparagus contains 4 calories and no fat or cholesterol.

7 The fruit from asparagus is a small red berry that is poisonous to humans.

8 A recipe using asparagus was found in one of the oldest surviving cookbook, which dated back to the third century AD.

9 Louis XIV had special greenhouses for growing asparagus.

10 Asparagus is best planted near tomatoes as each plant repels bugs that bother the other.