Asparagus and strawberries - weird or a natural?

"What do we think? Internet garbage or some truth here?

Culver O'Neill/Facebook

Culver O'Neill was actually talking about companion planting, but yes indeed - is the whole idea of cooking asparagus and strawberries together just internet - or perhaps these days we should say AI - garbage or is it a weird but mind-blowingly delicious combination? I only glanced at the gardeners, but even their opinion was divided.

I'm not entirely sure where I got this idea from - all I had written down was 'asparagus and strawberries'. I now think it was probably from glimpsing a recipe that combined the two in a Coles Magazine, (a salad I think) but I really don't know. So is there anything to say, recognising that this is probably not the right time to say it anyway - they are both a spring thing - although, somewhat frighteningly, spring is not far away?

I found no celebrity chef - major or minor - had tackled asparagus and strawberries even though it does indeed seem to be a recognised companion planting thing. But three cheers for internet bloggers and their brave experiments that sometimes look as if they have come off. And a brief side note before I get into my recipe lists - not many cooks combine asparagus with any kind of fruit.

If you feed the notion into Google Images you will get plenty of options, but it has to be said that the bulk of them are salads - so here are a few of the more interesting and/or eye-catching ones that I found: Strawberry asparagus salad with quinoa and shallot vinaigrette - Veggie Jam; White asparagus and strawberry salad with vanilla kissed salmon steaks - What's for Lunch, Honey?; Asparagus salad with strawberries - Peter Hutten/SBS although I have to say that this one is really more of a stir fry, complete with the usual stir fry suspects - soy sauce ... and finally served on a lettuce base.

Then there a few which have a strawberry sauce served over the cooked asparagus - often using balsamic vinegar in the mix - well we probably all know that balsamic vinegar is often used with strawberries - in very small portions: Asparagus with strawberry balsamic coulis - Plantivores; Grilled asparagus with strawberry sauce - California Strawberries.

Stepping back one you have cooked asparagus served with strawberries, which may or may not have been cooked and which almost always have balsamic vinegar somewhere in the equation: Balsamic strawberry asparagus - Eating Richly; Charred asparagus with strawberries - Cook's Country/Instagram

Then things became marginally interesting when I found this Vegan strawberry pasta with asparagus - Slavic Vegan whose author seemed to think that strawberry pasta was a thing in Italy. So I looked and honestly I can't say that I found anything - well one recipe from La Molisana although it looked as if the strawberries were almost an afterthought. But I did find a couple of people making risotto with strawberries - although again, sometimes it just seemed to be just decoration for an asparagus risotto. But then this Asparagus and strawberry risotto did come from a website with the name Recipes from Italy. Mind you their recipe was really just one of the variations it mentioned for Asparagus risotto - right down at the end of their post. I'm not sure pink pasta looks right somehow.

And a final shout out to the adenturous out there Asparagus and strawberry tart - Chocolate and Zucchini; Strawberry asparagus rice summer rolls - Passion Spoon and the truly different Vanilla ice-cream with caramelised asparagus and strawberries - Anna Chwistek - Serving Dumplings - although the ice-cream is just vanilla.

A quickie on a dismal day. I was going to go for a walk but it's sort of raining on and off and I'm not enthusiastic enough to walk in the rain.

I was sort of expecting Ottolenghi and co to have come up with something, but apparently not. Although having looked at the experiments by the blogging world, you would sort of have to wonder why. Fruit and vegetables together are often a thing these days after all. But then in the old days asparagus was always boiled and steamed. Today it is more likely to be 'charred' on a griddle or a barbecue or perhaps roasted. I tend to follow Madhur Jaffrey's method of tossing the stems in a little oil in a frying pan, adding a small amount of water, covering with a lid and leaving it to sputter quietly for 5 minutes or so. Works every time, and no special asparagus saucepan required.

YEARS GONE BY

July 25

2025 - Nothing

2024 - Nooch - new word but new ingredient?

2023 - Best - who says?

2022 - Coq au vin - slow food or quick and easy?

2021 - Missing

2020 - Missing

2019 - Duck à l'orange

2018 - Your waiter or waitress has a story to tell

2017 - Define artisan

2016 - Marmalade time