Sprue

"the thinnest, early cultivated asparagus that used to be sold off cheap, but now gets a cute-factor price hike." Sophie Grigson

Earlier this week - and actually last week too, I bought some very cheap large bundles of very thin asparagus - about the same thickness - maybe slightly less than these - from a new Colonial Food Store in the shopping centre next to where my Italian classes take place. I couldn't resist either their beauty or the cost.

So I took them home, and looked for suitable recipes because all those recipes of things like fat spears cloaked in bacon or rolled in pasta didn't seem to be appropriate. Which is when I discovered that this very thin asparagus is called sprue.

Nobody seems to know where the name 'sprue' comes from, although it would seem to me that it's really just an offshoot of asparagus itself - the etymology of which is:

"late 14c., aspergy; earlier sparage (late Old English), from Latin asparagus (in Medieval Latin often in the form sparagus), from Greek asparagos/aspharagos, which is of uncertain origin"

In the 17th-19th century it was often called sparrowgrass, and apparenty in the trade - whatever that means - it is still called 'grass'. As for 'sprue':

"It first came into the language in the middle of the nineteenth century (from where is not clear), when it seems to have had rather negative connotations of inferiority or immaturity, but nowadays when designer vegetables, slim and exquisite, are all the rage this stigma has been lifted." An A-Z of Food and Drink

Which sort of repeats my opening quote. Not that my purchase was expensive.

I think there are two kinds of sprue - those stems that are the 'thinnings' of the first harvest. The slim ones that are removed so that the fatter ones can grow even fatter, and also the last of the season - which must be what I have bought. Maybe they need to be harvested before they die, maybe they just won't grow any fatter at that stage - like green tomatoes at the end of the tomato season.

What you see here is the very similar, but technically different wild asparagus, which the Italians - well probably most Europeans - forage from the wild. Sophie Grigson describes it as:

"Disorderly tangled ragbag, on the other hand, is mostly vivid green, has barely a straight stem to its name, and sports any number of thready side shoots."

I'm pretty sure we have none of that here.

So what can you do with these thin shoots?

"The end of season sprue, as thin as wire, will make a flavoursome enough soup, but I like it as a pasta dish, too, when the lightly cooked tendrils of asparagus end up in a tangle with spaghettini, almost melted butter, nutmeg and grated Parmesan. A cheap supper with a smattering of luxury. The fine stuff is hopeless in a quiche, though, unless you chop it finely and toss it with fried bacon." Nigel Slater

Many seem to disagree with Nigel on the quiche thing however.

With my first bunch I just cooked it as I usually cook asparagus - tossed in oil in a frypan, a little water added, lid applied and cooked until tender, and then served it to my family at our last weekend's feast.

However I went with the pasta option for the first of my two subsequent bunches. This recipe is from Sophie Grigson (daughter of Jane and a well-known cook in her own right), who in her 70s upped and went to live in Puglia where the sprue is her delight. Her recipe is Taglioligne with wild asparagus, mascarpone and lemon.  I just added some, which I had split lengthways into two, to Rachel Roddy's Linguine with courgettes, egg and Parmesan. David didn't like it - pronouncing it bland. But I did.

Having now perused seemingly endless recipes for asparagus in an effort to find some that were just for sprue it seems to me that the favourite thing to do is frittata - which really is very similar to quiche in a way, so would seem to confound Nigel's dismissal of sprue as suitable for this kind of thing. Sophie Grigson, down there in Puglia however, offers two recipes, one, which is fairly standard, and another which includes bread which has been soaked in milk and which she learnt from a lady called Loredana:

"Loredana is small, dynamic, bouncy, hoots with laughter, and makes her own sourdough bread. She also makes a frittata with the most delicious, crunchy crust to it.   I am in love with both of them, and her, at first bite. I quiz her on how she gets it like this. I have never tasted a frittata as good before."

You will find both a pretty standard frittata - Wild asparagus frittata and Loredena's version as well, on her website - Sophie Viva in Puglia but Loredana's also appears - together with a picture as Frittata pugliese di asparagi on the Food Network website. And before I leave frittata behind I should also include Rachel Roddy's very simple Asparagus frittata and also Simon Hopkinson's Asparagus frittata with soft cheese and chives but I could not find a picture of this.

Yesterday we hosted our friends to lunch, so my asparagus was obviously going to feature, and my initial choice was this Hot-smoked salmon and asparagus tart from delicious. UK although with smoked trout, but then I found that the temperature was going to be in the upper 30s and so not a good day on which to turn on the oven. I show it here, however, as an example of a huge range of such things you will find on the net. Not quite a quiche, although this one does have cottage cheese on the base, but no egg and cream custard.

There actually don't seem to be that many recipes that are specifically designed for sprue - and I've searched my cookbooks too - but of course in many cases one can adapt from a recipe for standard asparagus. I did find a few however: Three from Nigel - Asparagus, carrots and samphire salad not easy to make here I know because we don't seem to have samphire - in the shops anyway, although I believe it grows on some beaches; Asparagus with smoked trout, basil and anchovy sauce but alas no picture, and his Asparagus and feta rolls which he seems to think is adaptable to any thickness of asparagus - you just change the number of spears in each roll according to their thickness and finally Shane Delia/delicous. offers Grilled flat beans and asparagus with green toum  which is different.

So what did I decide to cook in the end for my friends? Risotto - not this Gorgonzola, asparagus and hazelnut risotto from Jacob Kenedy - well I don't like Gorgonzola - but one that I made up - the asparagus, slivered diagonally, peas, and smoked trout, laced with lemon juice and dill. And though I say it myself it was pretty good, although I'm not sure the asparagus added that much flavour. Most of the flavour came from the fish and the lemon.

Maybe next time I have some - probably not until next spring - I shall have a go at the frittata from Puglia I think, or maybe the filo rolls..

YEARS GONE BY

February 7

2024 - A frugal heritage

2023 - En passant

2022 - High lunch on Brunswick Street

2021 - New is old, old is new

2020 - When husbands have to cook

2019 - Nothing

2018 - Filmjölk

2017 - Nectarines