Ingredients

650g English asparagus
Asparagus salad:
30g asparagus tips (finely sliced on an angle)
6g shoots
4g bacon dressing
pinch salt
Asparagus puree:
20g virgin rapeseed oil
250g green asparagus trimmings (finely sliced)
17g curley parsley (picked weight) washed
1.5g salt
10g baby spinach (washed)
20g water
pinch ground black pepper
Smoked bacon dressing:
30g bacon oil
10g rice wine vinegar
40g white chicken stock
0.2g xantana
0.5g salt

Method

Prepare the asparagus and trim to your desired size, reserving the trimmings for the puree and 30g of spears for the asparagus salad.
Blanch the remainder of the asparagus in salted water (20g salt per litre of water) for 1-2 minutes depending upon the thickness of the spears. Refresh in ice water for another 1-2 minutes, remove from the water and reserved.
Asparagus salad:
Place the oil into a pre-heated heavy based pan, add the asparagus and salt cover with a tight fitting lid and cook for 2-3 minutes. Once the asparagus is tender add the parsley and water, cover again and cook for a further minute. After this minute add the spinach and pepper, stir for a few seconds until the spinach has wilted. Remove from the heat, spread out onto a tray and chill quickly to ensure you keep its colour. Once cold blend until smooth check the seasoning and reserve.
Smoked bacon dressing:
Combine all of the ingredients and blend with a hand blender, pass through a fine sieve taste and reserve.

In these challenging times…

The Staff Canteen team are taking a different approach to keeping our website independent and delivering content free from commercial influence. Our Editorial team have a critical role to play in informing and supporting our audience in a balanced way. We would never put up a paywall – The Staff Canteen is open to all and we want to keep bringing you the content you want; more from younger chefs, more on mental health, more tips and industry knowledge, more recipes and more videos. We need your support right now, more than ever, to keep The Staff Canteen active. Without your financial contributions this would not be possible.

Over the last 16 years, The Staff Canteen has built what has become the go-to platform for chefs and hospitality professionals. As members and visitors, your daily support has made The Staff Canteen what it is today. Our features and videos from the world’s biggest name chefs are something we are proud of. We have over 560,000 followers across Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube and other social channels, each connecting with chefs across the world. Our editorial and social media team are creating and delivering engaging content every day, to support you and the whole sector - we want to do more for you.

A single coffee is more than £2, a beer is £4.50 and a large glass of wine can be £6 or more.

Support The Staff Canteen from as little as £1 today. Thank you.