food expert shares the secret…
What we’re going to have today is we’re going to do a very simple um starter using oh it could be a main course I suppose um using asparagus and we’re going to give it an Italian uh kind of influence with some basalor basamic and parmesan marriage made in heaven and it is so quick and simple to do great for the summer English season just coming to an end now but it’s available all my little farm in groombridge you can buy uh the big jumbo ones for 550 a kilo and then the next one and then the spruce ones spruce the little ones which ones are the best to try if you’re at home. It it it depends really as long, you know, if you’re buying it from a local farm that growing it, it’s all going to taste fantastic. It’s all just different sizes. The sprew is is a little bit more tender. As they get larger, they do get a bit tougher. These ones these ones are quite large. And if you just break the ends, that’s the other thing. How do you know where to break them? Because I always think, what a waste. Do you just kind of will it break where it needs to break? Yeah. Okay. And what do you do with the ends? Oh, exactly. All right. So, that’s what we did, doesn’t it? Tastes fantastic. I They’re brilliant. What I’ve done here is I’ve blanched them. That means into a pan of boiling water with a bit of salt in there about 4 minutes. Starts the cooking process. I want it crunchy in the middle. But we’ve just started cooking around the outside. I’ve bought some basil oil. You can make it if you want, which I do at the restaurant and I nick it, take it home, so I don’t have to make it at home. But what we’d do is we’d blanch a handful of basil leaves in in the water like you do in the water for the asparagus in and out into cold water. Squeeze it dry into a liquidizer with some olive oil. Blitz it up. Leave it in your fridge overnight and strain it. Fantastic. You get the most amazing flavors. But it’s also available to buy. That’s not going to work actually. Let’s get that on there. So, if it’s available to buy it, why not? And I’m going to coat my asparagus with some basil oil. We’re going to char grill that. going to give it a slight nuttiness. It’s going to slightly change the flavor. Then when we serve it, we’ll serve it with some more basil oil. Balsamic vinegar. The more money you spend on your balsamic vinegar, the better it’s going to be. Come here. Give us a closeup. We did that like that. Yeah, because I’ve got asparagus in the side. No, it isn’t. It’s because you’re off the back of a lorry. All right then, love. Uh and then a nice piece of uh pomeo reano which will um shave over the top. But it’s so quick and easy. While we’re talking about summer, asparagus is a great thing, I thought I’d make you a quick drink. Okay. Using English strawberries because they am the best and they’re just coming into season now. Right. So, we’ve got strawberries, lemon juice, just to give those strawberries a lift. And I’m using some fruit sugar here. Fructose. Right. Because fructose and strawberries is a marriage made in heaven. What that is going to do to those strawberries is just make them taste so intense. Now, you can buy fructose from health stores, but anywhere really, supermarkets as well. now, right? Yeah. Lemon juice. Lemon juice. They naturally contain sugar and acid. By adding a little bit more, the flavor’s going to come out. Right. The fructose is very sweet, so you only have to use a little. And then what we do is we blitz it. Like that. And then we pour it into a a cloth with over a sie. And what we’re really making is almost like a strawberry cordial. So, let me just get rid of that under there. I’ve got here some iced water. Right. Very, very cold iced water. Well, that diluted. That’s diluting it. I’m making a strawberry squash. Wait till you taste it. Oh, fantastic. So, presumably you could do this with raspberries. You can do it with raspberries. It doesn’t work so well with raspberries. Strawberries is fantastic. That’s for the, you know, a lovely summer drink. If you can put vodka in there, you can put, you know, all sort of alcoholics and serve the kids. Obviously, the ones without the alcohol. where vodka. What else can you put in there? Rum. Only you wouldn’t put rum, would you? No. What does strawberry dairy have in it? Whatever that has in it. Doesn’t that taste absolutely fantastic? Yes. Lovely. I don’t know. I’m not very good on booze. Lovely. Boozeless. Right. I’m just going to season these with a little bit of salt and a little bit of pepper. Right now, I might just trim them down a bit so I can fit them on the plate. But we got some lovely lovely markings on there. Let’s just trim those down. These are the chef’s bits. When we go off camera and then just literally place them on there. You got the beautiful greenness. That’s cuz we blanched them. And then we just drizzle it with a little bit of a little bit of as he pours it all over the place, balsamic, the basil oil. Oh, and then shave some of this over the top. And when you eat all those three or four delicious flavors together, it just works really well with a nice glass of strawberry squash. That is English summer. Did I say we’ve missed you? No. Well, we have. Here’s how to do it. Lovely. To make grilled asparagus with basil oil, balsamic vinegar, and parmmesan shavings, boil the asparagus spears in salted water for 3 minutes, then plunge them into ice cold water. Heat a griddle pan. Dry the spears and roll them in a little basil oil. Grill them for 2 minutes, turning occasionally. Place them directly onto a serving plate and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle with more basil oil and balsamic vinegar and sprinkle with Parmesan shavings. Then serve.
Dining and Cooking