The spears are here

It's asparagus season! Time to get amongst those green spears of goodness!

Here's a super quick recipe that will ensure you spend less time in the kitchen and more time making the most of the extended daylight playing frisbee in the park.

This is a bastardisation of çilbir, a Turkish dish of poached eggs and yoghurt. I had this at Providores in Marylebone a few years ago and it is deeeelicious. For this you'll need some kirmizi biber (dried Turkish chilli flakes), but if you don't have any to hand - which is very likely as it involves a special trip to a Turkish grocer - a quarter teaspoon of paprika and a teaspoon of normal chilli flakes instead would also be quite tasty.

What you need

(serves 2)

1 bunch of asparagus

eggs, however many take your fancy

5 big spoons big spoons of thick greek yoghurt (I used Total)

1 garlic clove, crushed into a paste with salt using the side of a knife

50g butter

1 teaspoon chilli flakes

The do

Boil a full kettle. Place the asparagus in a large bowl and cover with boiling water. After a few minutes, check for doneness - this will vary depending on how thick the asparagus is. If it needs more time let it mellow for a little longer. When done, rinse with cold water, drain and divide between two plates.

Mix together the garlic and yoghurt, then pile on top of the asparagus, making a little well for where the egg/s will sit.

Poach the eggs, and when done, drain, then place in the yoghurt wells. In a small frying pan, heat up the butter. When it starts to go a light brown colour, add the chilli flakes, swoosh around for a little longer to let the chilli colour the oil, then spoon over the eggs and yoghurt.

Enjoy with some crusty bread.

Nerd alert: Thanks to this brilliant book that I received for my birthday a few years back (thanks Cam!) I learnt that the chemical that causes the unsettling odour in the urine of some of those who eat asparagus is actually a close relative of that in skunk spray. Pong!

Vegan Black Metal Chef

This weekend was spent in bed nursing a broken toe and recovering from a hideous vomit bug I caught off Miss Jasmine T.

The only thing that cheered me up was this link my dear friend Mr Zincke sent. If you have a spare 15 minutes, dim the lights, spark up a few candles and check it out. Solid gold...and actually quite informative!

Guerrilla brekkie

Nearly a month in, I'm still struggling to hit my stride with this kitchen. So far I haven't been able to manage anything too complicated because of the state of disarray it has been in.

This weekend we've moved some shelves in which has improved things big time stylee, so I've felt inspired to make a brekkie with more wow factor than Weetabix.

What you need (for two hungry peeps)

Two big handfuls of baby spinach

Two handfuls of chestnut mushrooms, quartered

2 eggs

big fat slices of Cholla bread (or any other bread will do)

soy sauce

a big teaspoon of thick cream or creme fraiche

chives

dill

mayonnaise

The do

For your eggs, bring a medium sized saucepan of water to the boil then reduce to a simmer.

In a small bowl, mix together about a tablespoon of mayonnaise with a big teaspoon of chopped dill. (Clearly this is no substitute for hollandaise but who really makes hollandaise at home?)

In a small frypan, heat a big knob of butter and fry the mushrooms over medium heat, when they are 3/4 done put the eggs in the pan of water to poach. Now throw half a cap of soy sauce into the mushrooms, fry for a further minute or so, take off the heat, then stir in the cream and dish out onto plates.

By now the eggs should be ready. Pop your toast down, quickly rinse out the mushroom pan, put it back on the heat, then throw the washed spinach into the hot pan and cook until wilted and soft. Dress with some olive oil and a squeeze of lemon. Plate it all up and you are good to go. Bonus points if you can juggle the coffee making as well!

Tunes
Adam and Joe (6music, Saturday 10-1)