I wish I could remember the first time I had green asparagus.

I do not remember eating my first green asparagus. I wish I did, though, because I would have liked to savour that moment, it must have been delicious and different, a bit mind-blowing maybe.

Photo: Columbus Leth

Asparagus are so delicate and beautiful; I believe them to be perfect. They are a wild plant from the south of Europe, and we have changed them very little since we started cultivating them. Since ancient times, asparagus have spread all around the world and are a very sought-for vegetable.

Asparagus have great flavour on their own, you do not need to do anything to them, they are delicious in so many ways. I love to eat them raw as well, then in any possible way from dipped in soft boiled egg, used in a pasta, soup or risotto, in salad, baked on ricotta cream, on ryebread with a poached egg, in curries both Thai or Indian style, sautéed in butter, baked in the oven with garlic and lemon. I could go on and on, the list is endless.

Growing up, I remember not liking white asparagus soup, always made with white asparagus out of a tin. It was a bit slimy, and I did not like the after taste from canned white asparagus, which in Denmark also is used in the traditional chicken salad. In the recipe for “tarteletter med høns i asparges”, a small breadbasket made from savoury puff pastry where you pour in a white gravy with boiled chicken and white asparagus, mostly canned asparagus are used. But I would now like to make it with fresh white and green asparagus.

I did not try to make my own asparagus soup until I started writing recipes and made a soup with fresh white asparagus. I remember as a child having the fresh white ones in spring with mousseline sauce and small shrimps, but I do not remember having my first green asparagus. I wish I did, though, because I would have liked to savour that moment, which I believe must have been too delicious and different, a bit mind-blowing maybe. So, I am searching my brain like, when could it have been? I say to myself: “come on Trine, try to recall the memory”. So, far it has not come to light, my brain is not collaborating.

What I do know is that asparagus became part of my everyday springtime cooking in the early 1990s, when I lived in Washington D.C and would get them in abundance at my local supermarket called Freshfields (before Wholefood or Trader Joe’s in US). Then in the 2000s I started getting Danish asparagus from some great producers in Odsherred and Fyn, where lots of tasty vegetables are grown.

I love asparagus, but who doesn’t? Their season is right now here in Italy, and I try eating them every day for the 6-8 weeks the season lasts. They are the taste of spring and new beginnings. I walk to my greengrocer Franca in Canelli and buy the local asparagus from Roero, an area in central Piemonte. They come in different thicknesses, and they are just divine.

Then on Saturdays I often go to the Slow Food market in Alba, where I can get almost everything I need to buy for the whole week. The vegetable producers there sell what they have in season. Now there are asparagus, and often they also have wild asparagus, known as “asparagi selvatici”. I even found some wild ones on my own land last spring. I haven’t found any yet this year, but I am still looking, and I have a lot of wilderness at my place, so there is hope. I used the ones I found last year in a frittata.

Season is defined by light, weather, and what the land has to offer us, so I say: enjoy and celebrate eating seasonal things every day, especially the vegetables that have a short season like asparagus. Then you are satisfied after 8 weeks, you are ready to let them go and welcome them back again next year.

Here are some of the asparagus recipes that I eat every spring.

CRUNCHY RAW VEGETABLE TART

Photo: Columbus Leth

Serves 6

For the tart

1 sheet of ready-made puff pastry

1 egg, lightly beaten

10 asparagus spears, trimmed of woody stalk

10 radishes

2 celery sticks, with leaves

Sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper

For the vinaigrette

3 tbsp lime juice

2 tsp honey

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6.

Roll out the puff pastry a little until it is big enough to cut into 2 rectangles each 35 x 20 cm. With a small, sharp knife, score a pattern all way around each, 2 cm from the edge. Brush with egg all over and bake for 15 minutes, or until golden.

Meanwhile, snap the lowest third of the asparagus (save it in the freezer to make stock), cut the rest of the asparagus into ½ cm slices at an angle. Cut the radishes into thin slices lengthways, using a mandolin if you have one. Slice the celery finely and mix all the vegetables in a bowl.

Now make the dressing. Whisk the lime juice and honey in a bowl, then gradually whisk in the olive oil. Fold the dressing into the vegetables and season to taste with salt and pepper.

When the puff pastry is done, place on a big wooden board, divide the vegetables on top and serve right away.

FRITTATA WITH ASPARAGUS, SPRING ONION AND PARMESAN

Photo: Columbus Leth

Serves 4-6

10 eggs

4 spring onions (scallions)

10 green asparagus spears, trimmed of woody stalk

3 tbsp olive oil

100 g (1 cup) finely grated (shredded) Parmesan cheese

Small bunch of coriander (cilantro), any coarse stalks removed

Sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper

Whisk the eggs together in a bowl, season generously to taste. Slice the spring onions 2 cm (¾ inches) thick. Slice the asparagus spears lengthways.

Fry the spring onions in 2 tbsp of the olive oil in a medium-sized frying pan set over a high heat. When they start to colour, reduce the heat to medium, add the eggs, stir a few times and sprinkle in the cheese.

Let it cook in the pan for 5-8 minutes, or until the egg has just set, but be careful not to overcook.

Meanwhile, set another frying pan over a medium-high heat and fry the asparagus in the remaining 1 tbsp of olive oil for about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Place the frittata on a warmed serving dish, then mix the coriander into the asparagus and serve on top of the frittata.

WHITE ASPARAGUS SOUP

Photo: Columbus Leth

Serves 4

800 g white asparagus

2 shallots, chopped

1 celery

50 g butter

4 tbsp plain white flour

300 ml dry white wine

1.2 l vegetable stock

2 bay leaves

200 ml single cream

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Serve

2-3 spring of chervil

bread

Rinse the asparagus and peel until they start to get a little shiny, then snap the lowest third off, keeping these end-pieces with the leftover peel, setting the upper two-thirds of the asparagus aside.

Cut celery in slices. Take a saucepan, melt the butter, add the shallots and celery, sauté for a few minutes before adding the flour, stir well, now add the white wine and stir again until a thick smooth paste, finally add the white asparagus ends and peel, and the bay leaves.

Now gradually stir in the vegetable stock, bring the soup to a boil, lower the heat, add salt and pepper, and let simmer for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes sieve the soup and discard the vegetables. Pour the soup back in a clean saucepan, bring slowly to boil. Cut the asparagus you set aside in 1-centimetre slices on an angle. Add them to the soup and let it simmer for 5 minutes, season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve hot with chervil.