Today’s post is a bit like last night’s dinner: short, fast and done in the gaps between everything else. I sing in a choir on a Tuesday night so I either a) eat a sandwich on the train home between the office and the rehearsal room, b) don’t eat at all or c) make sure I’m really organised, get out of work on time, go home before I go out and eat something there. C) very rarely happens and, even when it does, I don’t have time to do much. There’s toast, a sandwich (too reminiscent of lunch), a bowl of miso, a piece of cheese, a handful of nuts. Or all of the above combined. But if I want something that feels like I’ve actually eaten something vaguely meal-like, it usually involves a green vegetable and some bread. A bowl of salad, the dressing made by tipping olive oil and vinegar over the leaves without ceremony. A handful of raw broccoli dipped in some olive oil, or steamed and covered with bits of chopped-up anchovy, or chilli and garlic with a bit of oil. Or at this time of year as the season races to its conclusion, asparagus. This week I’m on a Rozanne Gold kick and so I tried her roasted asparagus with fried capers. It’s apparently the recipe that made her famous (at least in the US). Not sure I love it as much as yesterday’s chicken but it’s definitely interesting. And fast.

Rozanne Gold’s asparagus with fried capers (anglicised and adapted)

For one you will need
Cupboard (or things you may already have)
olive oil, a couple or so of tablespoons
sea salt and black pepper

Shopping list
asparagus (a standard bunch is about 200-250g which, if you’re having just that, should be enough for one)
capers, a tablespoon or so
some nice bread

How to
1. Heat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan/gas 6.
2. Prep the asparagus by snapping off the woody stems. If the capers are in brine, rinse them briefly in cold water and drain.
3. Put a tablespoon or two of olive oil into a shallow roasting tin and toss the asparagus in it. Season with some salt then roast in the oven for 10-15 minutes (mine took 12 but I have a notoriously over-enthusiastic oven).
4. When the asparagus looks nearly ready (you know, when you think to yourself ‘I’ll just leave it a minute or two longer’) then heat some more olive oil, a teaspoon or so, in a small frying pan and fry the capers for a couple of minutes over a relatively high heat until crispy.
5. Toss the cooked asparagus with the crispy capers, some salt and pepper and eat with some nice bread to mop up the olivey asparagusy capery sauce.