Why I’m getting an allotment (spoiler: to grow asparagus for this recipe)

Why I might finally have room to grow asparagus and why asparagus orzo with wild garlic breadcrumbs will be the first recipe I make.

Our village newsletter…

…which plops through the letter box every month, is a litany of jumble sales, play reading groups, and requests for the mystery flower thief to please stop picking from the verge and buy their own bloody daffs from Waitrose (true). Last month, however, an advert caught my eye amongst the parish grumblings:

Allotments. £20 a year. Various sizes. Running water. Available now.

Oh dear. Could I resist?

£20? Of course I could not. And so, I am now the proud new tenant of Plot 8. It’s not a full sized allotment but it’s been well cared for so I can start growing straight away. I plan to grow what I call Old Man Veg – leeks, pumpkins, swedes, turnips - and have been chitting potatoes and getting onion sets started in modules in anticipation for the last few weeks. I will focus on crops than are solid doers and don’t require much attention, in the hope that I can sling them in the soil and leave them to it, keeping the more delicate harvests to grow at home.

Apart from asparagus.

This might be my one deviation from the Old Man rule. If, after a my first year, the allotment seems to be working, I may invest in some asparagus crowns, weeding and tending them for the next couple of years before they are ready to offer up a harvest. Because nothing but nothing tastes as heavenly as a homegrown asparagus spear.

And if (when) I do grow it, I will cook this with the first harvest.

This simple, solo supper sees all the ingredients act in service of the asparagus – the spring onions and cheese to add umami that balances the sweetness of the asparagus spears; the lemon for brightness; the breadcrumbs and nuts for contrast and crunch. In my dream, this is a pure, uncomplicated dish, the better to enjoy the sweet satisfaction of a first asparagus harvest.

Asparagus orzo risotto with wild garlic breadcrumbs

Many would call this ‘orzotto’, but ‘orzo’ means ‘barley’ in Italian and technically orzotto is made with barley and orzo only called so because it looks a bit like the grain. Call it what makes you happy. And use parmesan in place of cheddar if you like too, but I enjoy the British take on the nut/cheese combo, to match the British harvest, hence the hazelnuts rather than pine nuts too. Though the lemon, which is essential, is neither so perhaps that’s just a fancy.

Serves 1

• 75g orzo