Recipe for asparagus bundles with sauce hollandaise

THIS is a rather fancy way to serve asparagus. You could also dispense with the ties and just serve them with the sauce.

Serves 4

1½-2 lbs (560-900g) fresh asparagus 1 leek or some chives Sauce hollandaise

Garnish: chervil

Wash the leek (if using) and cut in half lengthways. Blanch and refresh under cold water. Drain on kitchen paper. Peel and trim the root end of the asparagus. Cut into uniform lengths and save the trimmings for soup.

Make the sauce and keep warm. Just before serving, cook the asparagus in boiling salted water. If you have a special asparagus pot, that’s wonderful, but you can manage very well without it. Depending on the thickness of the spears, they may take between 8-12 minutes to cook. Test by putting the tip of a sharp knife through the thicker end.

Remove from the water and drain. Tie the asparagus into bundles of 3 or 5 with the strips of leek. Put a generous tablespoonful of sauce hollandaise on each warm plate and place the asparagus bundle on top.