This can be made only during the short fresh asparagus season, so make the most of it when you can. Total time 25 minutes.

Ingredients

1 ½ lb/675 grams asparagus spears

Olive oil

Salt

Eggs, allow about 1 ½ per person or use quails eggs for a special occasion in which case you will need 3 per person

2 or 3 cooked chicken breasts. You can skin and bone these or just remove the bones and then cut into bite sized pieces

12 rashers streaky bacon, grilled until crisp and then broken up

Dressing

¼ pint/ 150 mls olive oil

Salt and pepper

½ teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon of lemon or lime juice

2 tablespoons of fresh chopped herbs such as tarragon, chives, thyme or lemon balm

Method

Turn on oven, 220 C/450F/ Gas 6

Trim the asparagus spears by snapping of bases ( save these to make soup). Place them on a baking sheet and brush with oil. Sprinkle with salt and roast in hot oven for 20 minutes and then remove and allow to cool. Meanwhile make dressing by placing all ingredients in a screw top jar, replace lid and shake well. Boil the eggs – quail’s eggs will only take 3 minutes, hen’s eggs take 6 minutes to cook hard. Shell and halve eggs or in the case of hen’s eggs you could quarter them. While they are boiling grill the bacon until crisp.
Arrange the asparagus and chicken on a large open dish. Arrange the eggs around this and sprinkle the crumbled bacon over it all. Down give your dressing a final shake and drizzle it all over.

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