White Asparagus with Butter, Lemon and Bottarga
Drogo
3-4
1 minutes
8 minutes
White asparagus with bottarga is a refined Mediterranean-influenced spring dish that lets the season's most prized vegetable take centre plate. This white asparagus recipe sees the pale, milky spears, grown under earth or thick mulch to keep them from greening, gently steamed or boiled until just tender, then dressed in melted butter, a generous squeeze of lemon and a final shaving of bottarga. The cured grey mullet roe brings a clean, salty, faintly oceanic note that lifts the natural sweetness of the asparagus. As a take on white asparagus with butter, it's ready in around 15 minutes from start to plate and works just as well as a delicate starter as it does a side.
Ingredients
500g white asparagus
100g butter
1 lemon
Grated bottarga
Directions
Step 1, Prepare the white asparagus by removing around ½ inch from the woody end of each spear, then peeling almost to the tip using a vegetable peeler.
Step 2, Cook the asparagus for around 8 minutes in boiling salted water, or until just tender.
Step 3, Melt the butter and serve poured over the asparagus with a wedge of lemon. Grate over as much bottarga as you like.
Ingredients you'll need
