My favourite potato salad

For this recipe you'll need sour cucumbers. They look similar to gherkins, but they taste differently. It's a traditional Polish product that can be bought in most Polish shops in the UK

You'll need:
4-5 medium potatoes
3 sour cucumbers
75g ham
1 egg
fresh parsley
3 spoons of mayonaise
1 spoon mustard
salt & black pepper

1. Peel and slice the potatoes. Boil them in salted water.
2. Hard-boil the egg. When ready cut it into pieces.
3. Cut the ham into small cubes. Do the same with the cucumbers.
4. Mix the mayo with mustard and add some salt and pepper to the mixture. Be generous with the pepper.
5. Wait until the potatoes cool down before mixing all of the ingredients together. Sprinkle with fresh parsley on top, et voila!

Bon appétit!

Asparagus and leek cream soup

Yet another way to enjoy the delicate taste of asparagus!

You'll need:
10 green asparagus shoots
1 medium leek
1/2 medium size onion
5 medium size potatoes
thyme
0,5l bouilion (it's ok to use a vegetable cube)
sour cream
croutons
salt & pepper
olive oil

1. Peel the potatoes and cut them into small cubes. Carefully clean the leek and cut it into thin slices. Chop the onions.
2. Fry the onions, potatoes and leek on olive oil with thyme for about 5 minutes in a deep pan/thick bottom pot. Add some salt and pepper for taste.
3. Add bouilion and boil for another 10-15 minutes until soft. 3 minutes before it's ready add the asparagus (cut into 3-4cm bits).
4. Remove the asparagus heads for decoration.
5.Wait until the soup cools down and then blend it.
6. Warm it up again and transfer into a bowl.
7. Decorate with sour cream, asparagus heads and croutons, et voila!

Bon appétit!

PS. This soup also tastes very good if served with chicken.

Asparagus and prawns linguine

With the season for asparagus slowly coming to an end, it's the last chance to enjoy this delicate vegetable. It's important for asparagus to be very fresh to be tasty. To check if it is, just rub two stems against each other, they should make a squeaky sound. The real secret of this recipe though is tasty extra virgin olive oil and the freshly hot 'marinade' it makes part of.

For this recipe you'll need:
4 green asparagus shoots, cut into bite-size bits
100g king prawns
50g mozarella, sliced
50g freshly grated pecorino cheese (or other hard cheese, eg. grana padano or parmesan)
1 lime
5 spoons of olive oil
crushed dried chili
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
a handful of linguine (or spaghetti)

1. Boil the linguine in salted water. In the meantime prepare the 'marinade'. Zest the lime. Mix the olive oil, juice from half the lime, lime zest, garlic and crushed chili. Add a pinch of salt.
2. 3 minutes before the pasta is ready add the asparagus into the boiling water.
3. Warm up the 'marinade' on a pan. Once it's hot, add the pasta together with the asparagus and prawns. Fry for 2-3 minutes while stirring so that the flavours mix. Add half the pecorino cheese towards the end of the frying.
4. Transfer the contents of the pan onto a plate. Add mozarella slices on top. Sprinkle everything with pecorino, et voila!

Bon appétit!

PS. Did you know that asparagus belongs to the lily family?