It's a naked chefess asparagus-thon!

Well we went to Crystal Palace earlier in the week, to see the dinosaurs.  Now then, Isobel was very excited about seeing the dinosaurs.  For those of you who aren't familiar with the dinosaurs, they were built by the Victorians in about 1854 and represent the first dinosaur sculptures in the world! They were designed and sculpted by Benjamin Hawkins and Richard Owen.  They were based on the best scientific info to hand at the time but are now seen as inaccurate in many ways.

Anyway, I digress.  Yes, the dinosaurs.  It was the first time for me to visit them and the first time for Isobel and Arthur.  The excitement built in the car....

'Mummy, are they real dinosaurs'....

'Why aren't they real?'....

'Are they pink?'

'Are they big ones or very very small ones?'

Upon arrival at said dinosaur park, Isobel saw the mural on the side of the cafe - 'look mummy, that one is eating carrot pie with bones in it and that one has a blueberry drink'.  When she actually saw the dinosaur, she wasn't that impressed....she was too busy wanting to scoot off with her friend and climb up muddy banks and tree stumps, play in the sandpit, eat sand, eat food generally and graze her knees almost out of existence.

Oh well.  I enjoyed it anyway!

So, onto the next step in the Jamie Oliver cookathon.  As it's English Asparagus season I have decided to do all the asparagus recipes from the Naked Chef - why not, saves food miles!  There are about 6 including some exciting home made asparagus and ricotta tortellini!  But, that excitement is for later.

We decided to have asparagus with anchovy butter.....not a combination I had thought of I must say.  Anyway, my trusty kenwood failed me - the recipe calls for the soft butter, anchovies, chilli (yum yum), lemon juice and black pepper to be whizzed in the food processor.....the kenwood seemed to just mush it up and then refuse to blend it at all! So I resorted to using a large knife and attempting to cut it in to a smooth consistency....

As you can see....I don't think it really worked....

But anyway, I kept going! Not going to be swayed by such a small think as a dodgy processor.

The asparagus was tossed in the butter as per instructions et voila - and it was yummy, very yummy.  Peter even thought it was a particularly good combo and he doesn't like anchovies!


I thought I would share two examples of the final product, one from the book and one from my plate:

Now this is Jamie's version - with flash

And mine - much better don't you think????

So, so far for Jamie's recipes - maximum points - tasty, easy and quite healthy too!