Weekend Food

Marble Cake close 2



Wild Garlic Focaccia



Asparagus with parmesan






Roast Asparagus with Parmesan, and Banting

Asparagus with parmesan

Are you Banting?  No I’m not being weird or misspelling, it refers to HFLC –  the high fat, low carb way of eating.  When we were in South Africa recently everyone was talking about Tim Noakes and his Real Meal Revolution book.  The night we arrived we had supper with friends, a fabulous carb free supper incidentally and were introduced to the idea, among others, of avocado, anchovies and cream cheese for breakfast.  I tried it, totally delicious and not as peculiar as you might think.  This way of eating is all the rage there, tout le monde was either talking about it or doing it and by the way, losing weight on it.   To the point that the book was sold out in most places and I was lucky to find a copy.  The day we flew out I saw a new magazine based on the philosophy at the airport – this is big over there.

Fundamentally you eat fats in their original, purest form i.e. regular milk or yogurt rather than messed around with low fat versions.  Good fats fill you up so you can eat less of them, what you need to keep a beady eye on are those carbs as that sugar can play havoc.  Chicken to be eaten with its delicious, crispy skin, bacon, avocados, cheese…. and you can lose weight.  Sounds like a dream no? It isn’t a pink ticket to go crazy though, vegetables are a huge part of the regime and the recipe section of the book is sensational.

Whilst I can’t tell you I am following this idea, I am interested in something that has gained such a huge following and I will read the book cover to cover.  In the spirit of it however, this weeks’ recipe is something I cook every year when asparagus is in season.  The roasting intensifies the asparagus flavour and the parmesan adds a gorgeous, salty savoury finish.   Quick, make it before the asparagus is over for another year.

Roast Asparagus with Parmesan

1 bunch of asparagus

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Parmesan, grated – as much as you would like

Preheat the oven to 200.  Trim the bottom of the asparagus, either just snap them off where they ‘give’ or peel the bottom third.  Put them on a baking tray, pour over a little olive oil and turn the spears in it.  Season well with salt and pepper and roast for 10 minutes until just singeing at the edges.  Grate some parmesan over them and return to the oven for a further 2-3 minutes until the cheese has just melted and then tuck in.  I sometimes have this for lunch on my own or it could serve two as a light starter (or just do two bunches for a proper size starter!)   A drop of good balsamic is a nice finishing touch.