There was a wonderful moment in Jamie Oliver’s recent television show, Jamie’s Kitchen, in which one of his student apprentices was asked to trim the asparagus. And so he did, by carefully lopping off all the tender tips and chucking them in the bin.

This is my fifth consecutive asparagus recipe this week, but the image of that apprentice reminds me not to forget the basics. So choose the freshest, greenest asparagus with tightly closed lavender-tinted tips, discard the tough ends (not the tips) and wash.

There is no need to stand the spears upright in special asparagus cookers: just lay them flat in a single layer in a wide pan of simmering salted water and they will cook evenly enough, or steam them in a single layer over boiling water. Their colour is a dead giveaway — if the spears start losing that vibrant springlike green, they are on their way to being overcooked. Whip them out, drain them and serve with melting butter or extra virgin olive oil, Maldon sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Roasting and grilling also work exceptionally well, as the water loss heightens the flavour. Try oven-roasting asparagus and tomatoes this weekend and serving them with a fried egg on top, or with roast lamb or chicken, or with planks of sizzling pan-fried haloumi, a rich, salty Greek-Cypriot cheese available in most supermarkets. Haloumi is inedible cold, deliciously crisp outside and soft inside when sizzling, and inedible when cold again. So serve it hot.

Ingredients
Serves 4

Prep: 10 min
Cook: 30 min

8 plum tomatoes
2tbsp olive oil
Sea salt and pepper
Sprigs of thyme
800g asparagus
250g haloumi, rinsed
1tsp olive oil
1 lemon, quartered

Dressing
1tbsp lemon juice
1tbsp extra virgin
olive oil
1tbsp tiny capers, rinsed
1tbsp finely chopped parsley

METHOD

Heat the oven to 180C/Gas 4. Cut tomatoes in half lengthwise, arrange in a baking pan, drizzle with two tablespoons of olive oil, sea salt, pepper and thyme. Bake for 15 minutes. Discard the woody ends of the asparagus and add the stalks to the pan. Roll to coat them in the tomato juices, and roast for a further 10 to 15 minutes or until tender.

In a bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, capers and parsley.

Cut the haloumi into eight slices. Heat one teaspoon of olive oil in a non-stick frying pan and, when hot, sizzle the haloumi slices until golden brown (beware of burning). Turn briefly and sizzle the other side.

Casually arrange the tomatoes and asparagus on four dinner plates and top with the haloumi. Add the roasting juices to the dressing, drizzle it over the top and serve with lemon quarters.

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