ASPARAGUS SAGANAKI.

It's what happens when asparagus meets pan-fried feta, lemon, honey and walnuts.

Sheer bloody luxury, asparagus. Thick or thin, boiled or roasted or grilled.

It’s a meal unto itself with a fried egg oozing over it, or just the best side dish ever, alongside grilled lamb cutlets, roast chicken, eggplant parmigiana, seafood risotto, or a simple cheese omelette.

But still, my asparagus love keeps evolving. Every season, those joyous green spears collide with a current obsession to create something new (to me, at least).

This year, it’s a sort-of saganaki of pan-fried feta served on top of a pile of spears, with a hot lemon and honey butter and walnuts spooned over the top.

You get that garden-green taste of the asparagus but you also get salty, creamy, sweet and tangy at the same time.  The buttery sauce is magical becauseit all goes into the pan, including the walnuts, and when the butter melts and is hot and foamy, which takes about 30 seconds, that’s it. Winnity-win, win, win.

This isn’t a true saganaki because I don’t fry the feta in the traditional small double-handled cast-iron pan known as saganaki, a diminutive of sagana; mainly because I don’t have one.

I use a heavy non-stick pan instead, coat the feta with olive oil and flour, and fry for 2 to 3 minutes to get a bronzed crust.

Now here’s the thing about pan-frying feta – it may not work. The feta will obediently soften into rich creaminess, but it may then disobediently slide off the crust, leaving it in the pan. And here’s the other thing about pan-frying feta – there’s your success right there. You can make this work for you. It’s not a failure, it’s a strategy.

Just pick up the golden crust in the pan, and put it back on the top of the feta, to serve.

(This is quite a useful thing to remember whenever one has failed. Just think of it as strategic, and it will actually become strategic and lead somewhere more interesting.)

I’ve made this with both boiled and roasted asparagus and here’s what I think: Boil it if you’re still early in the season; it’s simpler, cleaner and gives you a more spring-like green.  Roast if it’s later in the season, and you want to give the flavours an earthier, more complex edge.  

To be honest, you could just dump the feta, un-fried, on top of the hot asparagus, and douse it with the hot lemon and honey butter and walnuts and it would be excellent.

HOW TO BOIL ASPARAGUS

• Snap the lower part of each spear, where it breaks naturally. No need to peel the stalks. In fact, please don’t.

• Cook them FLAT in a fry-pan of simmering salted water.

• Cook them quickly – 2 minutes for thin spears, 3 minutes for thick – and drain them when they’re still bright green, because they’ll keep cooking.

• Strain, then place them back into the dry fry-pan within a slurp of extra virgin olive oil or a spoonful of good butter, sea salt and pepper, tossing until well-coated. Eat in the hand.

HOW TO ROAST ASPARAGUS

• Heat the oven to 220C (200C fan-forced) and line a baking tray with baking paper.

• Snap the lower part of each spear, where it breaks naturally. No need to peel the stalks. In fact, please don’t.

• Arrange the asparagus on the tray, drizzle with 1 tbsp olive oil, scatter with sea salt and pepper, and roll to coat.

• Bake for 10 minutes (if medium size) or up to 15 minutes (if thick), until sizzling and lightly tanned, giving the pan a shake once or twice to help them roll over.

• Serve with very little, you’ll find they are already lushly coated with olive oil.

ASPARAGUS WITH PAN-FRIED FETA AND WALNUTS

Even better, it’s with a hot honey, lemon and butter sauce.

• 12 or more asparagus, snapped

• 200 g block of Greek feta

• 1 tsp plain flour

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 1 tbsp butter

• 1 tbsp honey

• 2 tbsp walnuts, toasted

• 1 tbsp lemon juice

• Sea salt

• Pinch of dried chilli flakes, optional

Cook the asparagus, see above, and arrange on a serving plate.

Coat both sides of the block of feta in olive oil and lightly dust the top with flour, through a sieve.

Place the unfloured-side down in a hot pan and fry for 1 minute.

Use an egg flipper or spatula to gently flip over, and fry the floured side for 2 to 3 minutes. The feta will soften and ooze, without actually melting.

Tilt the pan to make sure it will slide off, leaving its crust behind – then slide the block of feta onto the egg flipper and transfer to a plate. Gently peel the crust away from the pan, and place golden-side up on the softened feta.

Place the feta on top of the asparagus.

Quickly heat a small pan over medium heat. Add the butter, honey, sea salt and walnuts, swirling them around as the butter melts and the whole thing starts to caramelise, about 30 secs.

Add lemon juice (and chilli if you like), and pour the sauce and walnuts over the feta and asparagus. Serve hot or warm. Serves 2 straight-up, or 4 as a side.

# Look for real Greek feta, which is more likely to have a mix of sheep and goat milk (eg Dodoni brand); or sheep’s milk kefalotiri.

# Older Greek cookbooks - and I adore older Greek cookbooks - suggest dipping the feta in iced water before dusting with flour, to help the flour stick. Give it a try.

Thanks for dropping by! And as always, thanks for your comments and suggestions. Special thanks to Terry for the constant supply of asparagus and for only once suggesting we have it with bacon instead of feta.

Apologies to those living on the other side of our precious planet – not that you would still be reading, this far down (although some people tell me they skip to the bottom first, just to see what Terry has been up to). Just park this recipe for six months until you need it.

I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands and waters upon which I work, live, cook and play; the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and pay my respects to Elders past and present, and to the continuing strength and resilience of First Nations people, communities and cultures.