Breakfast asparagus with crispy egg - Lauraine Jacobs

Breakfast asparagus with crispy egg - Lauraine Jacobs

Breakfast asparagus with crispy egg Photo: Lauraine Jacobs

Ingredients:

12 spears fresh asparagus
2 free range eggs
6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
50g parmesan, shaved into thin strips
4 slices sourdough toast
2 tbsp butter 
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:

This recipe is really an assemblage of deliciously fresh ingredients. You will need to do three things at once if you want everything piping hot, (a bit like a juggler) - simmer the asparagus, fry the eggs and make the toast. If that's too difficult, make the toast first and keep it warm in a hot oven.

Trim the woody ends from the asparagus and if the spears are really thick, use a potato peeler to shave a little of the tough outer skin away from the ends.

Put a large pot of salted water on the stove top and when it comes to the boil, plunge the asparagus spears in to simmer for 2-3 minutes. Once they are tender, but still bright green, quickly rinse them under running cold water to set the green colour and place them on a very hot serving plate.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a very hot frying pan. This may sound like a lot of oil but this is the best way to get very crispy eggs as they must cook very fast. Once the oil is starting to smoke, break the eggs in and cook for just 1 to 2 minutes, so the white is cooked but the yolk is heated but still runny. The fresher the eggs and the hotter the pan, the less the egg will run all over the pan. 

Make the toast and butter it generously. 

Place the egg on top of the asparagus, serve alongside the buttered toast and add a few shavings of parmesan.

Serves 2