Roasted Asparagus with New Potatoes and Poached Egg [vegetarian]

May is a wonderful month for many reasons: the weather is in general much better than earlier in the year, grass is finally lush green and so are trees, and even better - they are not only green but also colorful as many of them bloom beautifully. But there is another reason I like May so much: asparagus.

Since it was pictured on an Egyptian frieze from around 3000 BC, we know that asparagus have already been cultivated for thousands of years. It has been appreciated  for centuries in Ayurvedic medicine for its positive influence on digestion. But as much as I realize its health benefits, I particularly value its taste especially since I can enjoy it here only for a very short time.

If you wander how to cook asparagus, try this recipe. The majority of it is very simple, the most difficult part is probably the preparation of poached eggs but I hope that with the detailed steps I included, it will not be so tricky after all. Poached egg looks really good with this dish, the runny egg yolk acts here as wonderful sauce but if you omit the egg you could also use this dish as a side for roast meat or fish.

INGREDIENTS (for 4 portions):

1 kg new potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 2 cm slices,

2 tbsp olive oil,

500g green asparagus, ends snipped,

200g cherry tomatoes,

4 eggs,

salt and pepper,

1 tsp vinegar.

METHOD:

1. Preheat an oven to 220 Celsius degrees (200 degrees for fan oven).
2. Put the pat-dried potato slices to a big oven-proof dish, sprinkle with 1 tbsp olive oil and some salt and mix well to coat all the slices.
3. Put to the hot oven for 25 minutes.
4. Take the dish out from the oven, move the potatoes around to make sure they are not stuck to the bottom of the dish, arrange the asparagus and tomatoes on top.
5. Sprinkle with 1 tbsp of oil, salt and pepper, put back to the oven for 15 minutes.
6. Prepare the poached eggs:

• in a small pot boil some water (approx. 7-10 cm depth) with vinegar,
• break an egg into a small bowl,
• when the water is boiling decrease the heat so it doesn’t boil rapidly (there are no big bubbles) and stir it a few times with a spoon to create a whirlpool,
• gently slide the egg into the water and boil for 3 minutes,
• take it out with a slotted spoon and place on plate lined with kitchen paper,
• if you like you may cut away whisky edges of the egg white.
• repeat with the other eggs. If you prefer, you may use two pots to speed the process of the preparation of poached eggs.

   7.  Serve one poached egg on top of arranged vegetables.

This is another reason why I love May :)