Charred spring vegetables with a watercress vinaigrette

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Charred spring vegetables with a watercress vinaigretteServes 4

What You’ll Need:

  • 750g small new potatoes,
  • scrubbed clean
  • sea salt and freshly ground
  • black pepper
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • 4 organic or free-range eggs
  • a bunch of asparagus, woody
  • ends snapped off
  • a few sprigs each of fresh parsley,
  • mint and tarragon, leaves picked
  • a good bunch of watercress,
  • roughly chopped
  • 8 cornichons, roughly chopped
  • 2 tablespoons little capers
  • 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

What To Do:

  • This is one of those brilliant stand-alone salads. I roast the potatoes and asparagus here, as I like the nutty character that’s brought out in the asparagus. In winter I use purple sprouting broccoli and chunked-up big potatoes, which cook in the same time and work just as well. One of the reasons I love to cook is the connection to what’s going on in the fields and allotments up and down the country. Asparagus to me marks a change in the year, heralding warmer times ahead. Keep the woody ends of the asparagus you have snapped off here to favour a stock for a soup or risotto. Although too tough to eat, they still have a lot of favour.
  • Preheat your oven to 220°C/fan 200°C/gas 7. Put the new potatoes on a baking tray with a good pinch of salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Once the oven is hot, put the potatoes in to roast for 30 minutes. Next, put the eggs into a pan, cover with cold water, bring to the boil, then turn the heat off and leave for 7 minutes. Take them out of the pan and run them under cold water, then, once they are cool, peel and put to one side. When the potatoes have had 30 minutes in the oven, throw in all but 2 stems of the asparagus, toss to coat in the oil and roast for a further 15 minutes.
  • Chop the herbs and watercress with the cornichons and capers and put them into a jug or jar. Add 3 tablespoons of olive oil, the red wine vinegar and the Dijon mustard, and shake or whisk to mix. Peel the remaining spears of asparagus into long thin strips with a vegetable peeler. Once the potatoes and asparagus are ready, tumble them into a bowl. Roughly chop the eggs and add them to the bowl, then pour over the dressing, scatter with the asparagus strips and toss gently while everything is still hot.

Anna Jones is the Soil Association’s Ambassador for this year’s BOOM (Best of Organic Market) Awards. To nominate your absolutely favourite organic product visit www.soilassociation.org by Friday 15 April.

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