After a lengthy blogging break, I realised I need to write again and a recipe that I prepared last night for dinner seemed an ideal entry back in to the blogging game. We’ve recently signed up for a veg box to be delivered fortnightly by Riverford and this week brought some delights including the first spring asparagus, some red-ripe tomatoes and big, beautiful portabello mushrooms. I’d been toying with the idea of asparagus with egg but wanted to use more of the vegetables I had at my disposal so I invented my idea of a fabulous warm salad. Here it is:
Ingredients:
a bunch of asparagus, washed and trimmed (cut off the woody part at the bottom of the stem)
a handful of new potatoes scrubbed clean and cut into bite size chunks
2 large portabello mushrooms, sliced
6 small ripe tomatoes, chopped
2 eggs
a packet of pancetta cubes (about 80g)
olive oil
salt and pepper
french vinaigrette
baguette
butter
Heat the oven at 200 degrees celsius and in a bowl , coat the potatoes in a spoonful of olive oil, then put in a roasting tin and transfer to oven. Let the potatoes roast for about 20-25 mins before adding the washed and trimmed asparagus to the roasting tin for a final 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a non-stick pan, gently fry the pancetta cubes and mushroom slices until the bacon is crispy. To keep these warm whilst you prepare the eggs, tip them over the roasted potatoes and asaparagus in the roasting tin and keep in the oven. Heat some oil in the non-stick pan and fry the eggs until cooked to your preference. On two plates, assemble the salad with potatoes, asparagus, mushrooms, pancetta and tomato creating a bed for your fried eggs. Season with salt, pepper and pour over some vinaigrette to taste. Serve immediately with crusty buttered baguette.
