Asparagus with spruce emulsion and seasonal flowers
- medium
- 4
- 45 minutes
Luke French's beautiful asparagus starter sees the vegetable grilled and brushed with a sweet and sharp spruce glaze and served with a vibrant green spruce emulsion and a selection of seasonal herbs and flowers. The recipe makes more spruce glaze and emulsion then needed but can be in the fridge for a week. You’ll need some specialist ingredients such as spruce vinegar and pickled spruce tips.
Ingredients
Metric
Imperial
Asparagus
- 4 asparagus spears, as large as you can find – Luke uses Yorkshire asparagus
- clarified butter, ideally smoked, for brushing
- 50ml of parsley oil, made by blending parsley leaves and oil together then straining
- sea salt, to taste
Spruce glaze
- 120g of rice vinegar, Luke uses a vinegar called Oishi Su made by Nihon Shizen Hakku
- 150g of caster sugar
- 10g of pickled spruce
- 25g of spruce vinegar
- 3.5g of agar agar
- 15g of spruce oil
Spruce emulsion
To serve
- 1 nori sheet, blitzed into a powder using a spice grinder
- edible flowers, and herbs (use whatever's in season)
Equipment
- Thermomix or blender
- Squeezy bottle
- Barbecue or chargrill pan
- Steamer
Method
Begin by making the spruce glaze. Place all the ingredients apart from the spruce oil into a pan and bring to the boil to activate the agar agar. As soon as it’s boiling, transfer the mixture into a container and place in the fridge to set. Once set, transfer to a blender, blitz until smooth and mix in the spruce oil. Set aside until needed
- 120g of rice vinegar, Luke uses a vinegar called Oishi Su made by Nihon Shizen Hakku
- 150g of caster sugar
- 10g of pickled spruce
- 25g of spruce vinegar
- 3.5g of agar agar
- 15g of spruce oil
For the emulsion, place all the ingredients (apart from the parsley oil and kombu oil) into a blender. Blitz for 1 minute to create a thick paste, then with the motor running on low, slowly drizzle in both oils to create an emulsion. If it begins to split, add a drop of cold water to bring it back together again. Transfer to a squeezy bottle and set aside
To cook the asparagus, set up a large steamer and light a small charcoal barbecue – you could also cook them on a very hot griddle pan but the smokiness from the charcoal makes a huge difference to the final flavour
Trim the asparagus spears if needed. Brush the spears with smoked clarified butter and grill, turning regularly, until lightly blistered. Transfer the spears to a container, then pour over the parsley oil, tossing to coat. Transfer to the steamer and steam for around 5 minutes, until tender throughout
- 4 asparagus spears, as large as you can find – Luke uses Yorkshire asparagus
- clarified butter, ideally smoked, for brushing
- 50ml of parsley oil, made by blending parsley leaves and oil together then straining
Brush the spears liberally with the spruce glaze and season with sea salt, then place a single spear on each plate. Decorate the asparagus with edible flowers and herbs. Finish by piping a neat dot of the emulsion beside it and sprinkle with nori powder
- sea salt, to taste
- 1 nori sheet, blitzed into a powder using a spice grinder
- edible flowers, and herbs (use whatever's in season)
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