Spotlight on a favourite Ottolenghi Recipe

It’s British asparagus season! It doesn’t last long, just the months of May and June, but whilst it’s here, we like to take advantage. British grown asparagus is regarded by many as the best in the world, full of flavour and beautifully tender spears – we love it.

One of our favourite recipes is this Asparagus salad with tamarind and lime, from Yotam Ottolenghi’s book ‘Flavours’ (page 171 if you already have a copy). Initially we weren’t sure about using raw asparagus, but actually it’s won us over in this pairing with sharp and sour tamarind and lime.

Like many Ottolenghi’s recipes there are quite a few ingredients involved, but they all have their place, and there’s nothing too far out of the ordinary to find.

For the asparagus you need:

Trimmed asparagus, which will be very, very thinly sliced (we used a mandolin or vegetable peeler)

• Lime juice
• Olive oil
• Mint leaves
• Pistachios

And salt And for the dressing you need:

• Mint
• Parsley
• White wine vinegar
• Honey
• Tamarind paste
• Anchovy fillet
• Cardamom
• Green chillies
• Garlic
• Dijon
• Mustard
• Lime zest
• And olive oil

Not only is this delicious but there are a few herbs in there that can be taken from the garden too, even better! For those who don’t yet own the Ottolenghi “Flavour” book pretty much exactly the same recipe can be found here. 

This is a lovely fresh recipe which is made even better if you can use ingredients grown from your own garden - Enjoy!