The Allotment Chef: Home-grown Recipes and Seasonal Stories. Paul Merrett

says our shed window has been blown out by the wind. The next morning I scrap my plans to install a water butt at home and head off to the allotment. Stuff the window – today is a great day: we have asparagus! Five beautiful, innocent, happy spears have gently nudged aside the well-limed, stone-free earth and are pointing skywards. My mind wanders back to the birth of my children – that is the impact of this discovery. Sure, they will grow up into big bold asparagus wrapped in pancetta and smothered in hollandaise sauce, but, right now, they are the pride and joy of my short gardening career. They must not be cropped for three years but it is all I can do to stop myself dining on them there and then.

      I call home and tell them the news, expecting them to drop everything and rush down to share the moment but, to be honest, their reaction is a little low-key. This could be because I have talked of nothing other than asparagus to anyone who would listen – so they may well have had their fill of the stuff before a single spear gets boiled.

      The news just gets better – we also have broad beans coming through. I net them for protection, mend the window and then head off to do the family shop. Although I have been telling family and friends for some time that I will never again visit a supermarket, the truth is that I have occasionally broken that rule with a sly trip to Waitrose. This particular brand of supermarket feels slightly more in tune with the ethical shopper in my mind; they also sell a very decent version of millionaire’s shortbread, which I love! Pulling up in my car, I feel like an alcoholic outside an off-licence as I lurk outside the shop, telling myself it’s against the rules, but knowing I will end up going in, and hoping nobody sees me.

      On the occasions that I have visited the supermarket, I have limited myself to buying only British seasonal produce that can be purchased free of packaging. I feel that this is in some way making a stand, and what could be more seasonal today than a kilo of Norfolk asparagus. In honour of our future harvest, I plan that the weekend’s menus shall revolve around this little beauty: asparagus soup – both hot and chilled; asparagus wrapped in Serrano ham and roasted in olive oil; and asparagus with hollandaise sauce.