Tabasco in your butter

FOOD:I'M BEING A bit bold sticking in a recipe for asparagus at the end of August, as the seasonal police will be out for my blood. But really it's just an excuse to make this citrus and Tabasco butter.

It’s so tasty you will want to dunk all types of steamed vegetables into it and munch through your five a day.

British asparagus has a very short season and is well prized, but nowadays you can get asparagus all year round, mainly from Peru. However, eating imported asparagus in the middle of January doesn’t feel quite right.

There doesn’t seem to be much in the way of Irish asparagus available, ever, but I’d love to be proven wrong. If a grower is supplying shops with Irish asparagus, please let me know.

You rarely see the white varieties for sale here, so prized on the continent for their gastronomic qualities that they are known as “white gold”. They are grown under the soil, so don’t get that blast of chlorophyll that makes them green.

I can attest to their yumminess, having spent a week in Holland years ago, during which the annual asparagus festival was in full force. At every pub and restaurant around the country you could gorge yourself silly on asparagus, served up any way you can imagine.

After three solid days of bingeing on the stuff, I came down with a horrible tummy bug and couldn’t look at asparagus for nearly a year. Luckily I am over it now.

Asparagus seems to divide the population into those who suffer from asparagus pee and those who don’t. Seemingly, most of us produce what is commonly known as “asparagus pee”, but only half the population can smell it. It’s a chemical reaction that passes quickly enough, but one that jars with asparagus’s gourmet qualities, but is entirely in keeping with its diuretic qualities. Suffice to say if you mention “asparagus pee” as a conversation filler (or stopper), you may get blank stares.

The other recipe is an incredibly tasty veggie supper for two to three. Remember, you salt aubergines to force their air cells to collapse so that they don’t absorb as much oil when cooking. Thinking you are removing the bitter juices is scientifically known as “hooey”.

Asparagus with citrus and Tabasco butter

Makes a large amount of butter, but it’s worth doing a big batch and then freezing any leftovers in cling film, which you could roll into a sausage shape and slice as you need it.

200g butter, soft

1 big tbsp Dijon mustard

Zest juice of 1 lemon and 1 orange

Sprinkling of sea salt

Coarse black pepper

1 tbsp Tabasco sauce

6-8 asparagus spears per person

Mix the butter in a bowl with the rest of the ingredients and chill until required. Cook the asparagus or any veg (broccoli works great too) in plenty of boiling water until just cooked, then either toss immediately and eat with a good knob of the citrus butter, or else rinse the veg in cold water until you want to serve. Then just heat up a big knob of butter in a saucepan and quickly sauté the veg until hot, and serve. Chuck an extra knob of butter on top and call the cardiologist another time.

Baked aubergines with tomato, Parmesan and crème fraiche (perfect supper for 2-3)

1 tin tomatoes

50g butter

4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

2 tsp caster sugar

Salt pepper

Bunch of thyme or rosemary

2 aubergines, sliced into 2cm-thick rounds

Olive oil

1 x 250g tub crème fraiche

50g Parmesan, finely grated

Put the tomatoes in a small saucepan along with the butter, garlic, sugar, seasoning and herbs. Cook until simmering and leave for about 20 minutes over a gentle heat, until it’s as thick as ketchup, stirring often with a wooden spoon. Meanwhile, sprinkle the aubergines generously with salt and lay them out of kitchen paper, on a baking tray. In another saucepan, heat the crème fraiche until simmering and reduced by a third. It will start to look like curdled yoghurt, but don’t worry. Take off the heat, mix in the Parmesan and set aside. Taste both the tomato sauce and the crème fraiche, and make sure you are happy with the seasoning. You can do both these stages the night before, if handier, and just leave in your fridge until ready to assemble.

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees. Wipe the salt off the aubergines and fry in batches in olive oil until golden on both sides. Don’t season, except with pepper. Drain on kitchen paper and then layer up in a gratin dish once they have cooled down. Top with tomato sauce and then spoonfuls of the crème fraiche, which won’t spread but will merely be dropped on top of the tomato sauce with a spoon. Bake for 25-30 minutes until bubbling. Drizzle with more olive oil and let rest for 10 minutes. Serve up with bread and a green salad. dkemp@irishtimes.com

See also www.itsa.ie