Halleluiah spring is here!!
A wise person once said “You never realize how much you miss something until it is gone” which is exactly how I feel about the warmth of the sun, spring flowers and green produce….especially asparagus.
With Easter and Passover firmly under my belt (both of which are always cooking marathons in my house) I am now extremely happy to be experimenting with what nature has to offer.
I always get genuinely excited when the British asparagus season first kicks in (and remain so for the duration to be honest) knowing full well how much love, time and effort goes into each miracle of a spear. We seem to have the first spears in the shops very early this year up here in Scotland, similar to England and Wales, so I urge you to get out and buy them.
I originally planned on using crab instead of brown shrimp for this dish but sadly there was no fresh crab available so rather than hitting the panic button and scrapping the dish I thought I would swap the crab for brown shrimp, an underused and very delicious ingredient. It always pays to remember when cooking to be as flexible as possible on ingredients you do not have in your cupboard or cannot find in the shops; as adapting is vital in building up your culinary confidence no matter how experienced you are, it is one of the things that make a great chef.
Recipe
Serves 4
- 1 bunch asparagus
- 2 shallots
- 100gm brown shrimps
- 50gm butter
- 1 pinch white pepper
- A good grate nutmeg
- Juice of half a lemon
- Salt
Herb of your choice for garnishing (I used fresh oregano)
- Bring a pan of well salted water to the boil
- In the meantime, snap the asparagus near the base, let it break where it naturally want to and remove the woody ends.
- Finely dice the shallots and sweat in a little of the butter until very soft without colouring (about 15mins).
- Then add the rest of the butter and when melted add the shrimps and season with the white pepper (can use black if you don’t have white), nutmeg and lemon juice. Then remove from the heat and let sit while you cook the asparagus.
- Now add the prepared asparagus to the boiling salted water for 2-4 mins depending on how fat the stems are.
- Drain the asparagus and place on plates of your choice, top with a spoonful of shrimps and drizzle with remaining butter. Garnish with herbs and a sprinkle of flaked salt.