Ah, asparagus – I just can’t get enough of it! Spring is my favourite season, especially for food and fresh produce. The root vegetables have fallen out of season and instead we have new potatoes, crispy sweet lettuce and of course pungent, delicate asparagus! I do find comfort during the winter when parsnips, turnips and brussel sprouts start to make an appearance, but spring vegetables bring much more excitement! It is like a glimmer of hope that summer is just around the corner, those winter boots and heavy coats have been packed away and the spring jackets are out.
Roasted New Potatoes with Asparagus and Pickled Radishes is my go to spring side dish! I recently made this at the weekend and served it with a steak. It is also a delicious side to go with a Sunday roast or a piece of grilled fish, or just to eat on it’s own. I add some pickled radishes to give it that almost sweet but tangy kick. There has been a bit of a buzz lately around pickled vegetables and how they have supposedly become a bit of a fad. Yes, OK the healthy eating, clean eating, let’s go raw, self-taught dieticians out there might promote the benefits of eating fermented vegetables but kimchi has long been a traditional food for Koreans, you can’t get any more German than Sauerkraut and pickled vegetables are a key part in Scandinavian cuisine. Yes, it happens to also be healthy for you but I really hope that we don’t see pickled vegetables, that are part of a healthy and normal diet, turn into a miserable health fad that we end up with fermented latte’s and pickled smoothie bowls!
I lightly pickle the radishes overnight and make my own mayonnaise but you can easily replace with shop bought mayonnaise as a cheat’s treat! I roast the new potatoes in a bit of sunflower oil with some rosemary and thyme and then add the asparagus for the last part of roasting, and I always season with plenty of sea salt and black pepper!
- 1kg (or around 800g) new potatoes (halved)
- 300g green asparagus (ends snapped off and peeleed)
- Handful of radishes (sliced)
- 100ml white vinegar
- Juice of 1 and half lemons
- 1 tspn dijon mustard
- Salt/ pepper
- Sunflower oil
- Few springs fresh rosemary
- Few spring fresh thyme
- Small bunch fresh parsley (finely chopped)
- 2 cloves garlic (crushed)
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 tbpsn white wine vinegar
- For the radishes: add to a bowl and pour in the vinegar and juice of 1 lemon. Add a pinch of salt and leave in the fridge overnight or at least for a couple of hours.
- Par-boil the new potatoes for just 5 mins on a hard boil or until slightly tender. Drain.
- Pre-heat oven to 200C/fan 180C. Heat 1 tbpsn sunflower oil in a non-stick roasting tin and place in the oven for just 5 mins. Take out of the oven and add the potatoes, garlic, pinch of salt and pepper, rosemary and thyme and mix well so the oil coats the potatoes. Place in the oven for around 40 or 45 mins or until crispy and cooked through.
- mins before the potatoes are ready, add the asparagus to the oven and cook for the remaining 20 mins.
- For the mayonnaise: beat the two egg yolks until creamy and thick (around 30 secs). Add a pinch of salt and start to beat in 250ml sunflower oil, slowly and bit by bit. Keep doing so until you reach the right consistency, although you might not need all the oil. Then slowly beat in 25ml olive oil, same process as before. Then beat for another 30 secs until thick and glossy. Mix in the juice of half a lemon, mustard and a pinch more salt. If you want a thinner mixture then add a little water. Then stir in the fresh parsley, season with a little bit of black pepper and keep in the fridge until needed!
- Plate up the potatoes with the asparagus and radishes and serve with the mayonnaise.
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