The Healthy Eating Guide

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Asparagus is my favourite vegetable - and one of the things I love best is Asparagus Soup. It is best made with Sprue, which are the fine, thin spears of Asparagus. These are not generally regarded as being suitable for eating as spears but they have the most fantastic flavour and so are ideal for soups and purees.

1 Round (about 1lb or 400 gms) Sprue Asparagus
1 Onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp (15 mls) Olive Oil
1 tbsp (15 gms) plain flour
30 fl oz (300 mls) light vegetable stock
30 fl oz (300 mls) milk
Salt and Pepper to taste

Cut the tips off the Asparagus and put to one side, cut the rest of the stems into pieces about 1 inch long.
Heat the oil in a large pan and add the finely chopped onion, cook gently until softened but not brown.
Add the cut asparagus spears, but not the tips and cook for a few minutes.
Add the flour and continue to cook for one or two minutes.
Add the stock slowly, stirring gently, then add the milk.
Cook gently until the asparagus is softened.
Pass the mixture through a blender and then pour through a sieve into a clean pan to remove any stringy bits of asparagus - or you can just use a mouli, it takes a little longer but you get a better texture.
Add the asparagus tips and heat through gently.
Season to taste.

Serve with Brown Bread and Butter.

Serves 6

For more Asparagus recipes you can try Chris Sheehan’s wonderful book - A Passion For Asparagus

I love going to the Farm Shops and local markets to buy food. It’s so much fresher and better for you than out of season foods that have traveled goodness knows how far. It is almost like going on a treasure hunt when you set off, armed with your shopping basket, to see what you can find that is good to eat today. One of my favourite foods is very seasonal, and I have to say, I am also very fussy about it. I love Asparagus, but I only like the local Asparagus grown here where I live. It has a flavour and texture all it’s own that nothing else quite matches. It is delicious served just on it’s own with absolutely nothing else. The season is short, only a few weeks so I always aim to make the most of it.

A good friend of mine has written the most fantastic book about the best Asparagus in the world, the ‘Gras’ that grows in the Vale of Evesham. A whole industry has grown up around this wonderful vegetable, sadly it has suffered from the cheap imports from as far away as Peru, but the season is still eagerly awaited by the local residents and we munch our way through tons of the stuff from mid April to early June. A Passion For Asparagus is a beautifully written and illustrated book that is a joy to read for anyone who has the remotest interest in food, it’s place in our lives and the joys of fresh, local produce.

Chris has spent a great deal of time researching his subject and his passion for asparagus really does show through. The lore and legend of asparagus as well as it’s history is all well covered and there are a raft of excellent recipes included as well, even tales of some visitors to the area who were obviously not initiated into the joys of asparagus eating and tucked into the woody end, leaving the tender and delicate buds on their plates! There are some wonderful photographs of the annual Asparagus Auction which is held at The Fleece Inn in Bretforton, the only pub owned by the National Trust (and worth a visit in it’s own right). This is the culmination of the Asparagus Festival which started this year with a ‘dash’ to London to take the first Asparagus to the Houses of Parliament.

If you are interested in Chris’s book you can find out more, or obtain a copy here - A Passion For Asparagus.