Asparagus with browned butter, lemon and a soft-boiled egg

Serves - 4

You’ll need

• 2 bunches asparagus, woody ends trimmed
• 4 eggs
• 60g unsalted butter
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Juice of ½ lemon
• Small handful chives, finely chopped
• Small handful flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
• Sea salt
• Black pepper

Method

1. Get the eggs going

Bring a pan of water to the boil and lower in the eggs carefully. Cook for 6½ minutes, then lift them straight into a bowl of cold water. That should leave you with whites that are set and yolks that are still softly luxurious rather than chalky and disappointing.

2. Cook the asparagus

Bring another pan of salted water to the boil, or use a large frying pan with a splash of water and a lid if that is easier. Cook the asparagus for 3–4 minutes until just tender but still with a bit of bite. Drain well and set aside. You want it bright and lively, not limp and overfamiliar.

3. Brown the butter

Put the butter into a small saucepan or frying pan over a medium heat. Let it melt, then continue cooking for 2–3 minutes until it foams and smells nutty, with little golden-brown flecks at the bottom. This is the moment to pay attention. Browned butter is glorious, burnt butter is just bad news.

4. Add the lemon and herbs

Take the pan off the heat and stir in the lemon zest, lemon juice, most of the chives and most of the parsley. Add a little black pepper and a small pinch of salt. It should smell fresh, buttery and exactly like the sort of thing asparagus wants poured over it.

5. Peel the eggs

Peel the eggs carefully. They are a little delicate when soft-boiled, so this is not the moment for unnecessary roughness.

6. Bring it all together

Arrange the asparagus on plates or a serving dish and spoon over the browned butter dressing. Sit a soft-boiled egg alongside or on top of each portion, then split them open just before serving so the yolk can do what it is there to do.

7. Serve

Scatter over the remaining herbs and a final grind of black pepper. Serve straight away with some good bread if you like, because any buttery lemony juices left on the plate are far too good to waste.

A couple of helpful notes
- If your asparagus is especially thick, give it an extra minute or so. Very thin spears will need less, so keep an eye on them.
- A few toasted almonds or hazelnuts scattered over the top would work very nicely if you want a little more texture.
- This works beautifully as a starter, but with bread or a few new potatoes alongside, it is more than capable of becoming lunch.