Asparagus is so delicious, it’s very easy to cook and to make a simple, delicious meal. All you need to do is trim off the woody ends – some people say you should take the spears individually and gently bend the tops over until they snap – and use them in salads. With older asparagus the best thing may be to throw the tougher ends away, but I tend to save them for adding chopped to a pasta dish or a soup, taking advantage of their distinctive taste more than their looks.

Steam the plump green spears and drizzle them with some olive oil and lemon juice, or make some homemade mayonnaise to dunk them into – a few dark green spears can make a simple supper or light starter. As well as the oil and the creamy homemade mayonnaise complementing the crisp spears, slightly soft-boiled eggs and shavings of Parmesan cheese turn them into a delicious indulgent-tasting salad, into which I’ve thrown some chopped fresh dill – I’m somewhat obsessed with this fresh herb at the moment, but you could equally add fresh parsley, or coriander, for a herbal zing.

Many recipes for asparagus and egg salad partner it with small pieces of pancetta, but I find that this can be a little too greasy (and would by the way take the fat level of the salad pretty high), so I prefer to get the smoky meat flavours from thin slices of San Daniele ham (from which I trim any excess visible fat). If you can, buy wafer-thin pieces of this Italian ham and then it will melt in your mouth. English roast ham can work well too – everything fresh asparagus needs to make it into a delicious lunch or supper.

I think one trick with asparagus is, the same as with all vegetables, not to overcook it, as then it turns mushy –it’s best to undercook it if anything, so that you have some crunch when you bite into it. And of course, nutritionally, the less you cook it the fewer vitamins and minerals you will lose; this is especially the case with the water-soluble vitamins such as vitamin C, so you’re best to steam or chargrill your asparagus to maximize how much vitamin C you have left when you bite into the spears.

Nutritionally asparagus is rich in fibre , especially a soluble fibre called inulin, which is what we call a prebiotic – a type of fibre that encourages the body to grow good bacteria such as acidophilus and bifidus, which may have benefits for reducing heart disease and certain cancers as well as help relieve IBS symptoms. Asparagus also contains Vitamin C, a little iron, a small amount of vitamin E and some B vitamins.

But back to eating the delicious stuff-a good asparagus based nibble can be simply popped together by wrapping the lightly cooked spears in wafer-thin slices of ham or smoked fish, or mashing them with some ripe avocado and lemon juice and serving them rather like guacamole – although I would only tend to do this when I’ve picked up a few cheaper bunches, which you may be lucky enough to do at a roadside or market stall, or when I have some cooked spears left over from a meal, as it’s a pity not to take advantage of asparagus’s attractive fronds.

Asparagus Salad with San Daniele Ham and Soft-Boiled Egg

This salad is also delicious if you use roast chicken instead of the ham, or different young raw vegetables, such as baby carrots, fresh crisp fennel (sliced), ripe tomatoes, rocket or radishes – it’s an all-round delicious salad that works throughout the spring and summer, depending on what you have around.

Serves 4

500g asparagus
300g broad beans
4 large eggs
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
1 x 300g bag of watercress
8 slices of San Daniele ham

In a large pan of slightly salted boiling water, cook the asparagus for a couple of minutes before adding the broad beans. Let them simmer for a further couple of minutes until both beans and asparagus are tender but not mushy – you want them still to have a bit of bite, otherwise the salad can taste a little mushy. Drain them well and put to one side. Some people like to remove the skins from the broad beans, and this is a fun thing to do with little ones, as they literally squeeze them slightly and out pops the dark green bean, but if the beans are very fresh and young it’s fine to eat them as they are, with their skins on.

Next bring a large pan of boiling water to the boil for poaching the eggs. People poach eggs in different ways, but I tend to crack the egg into a teacup and gently tip it into the water. Do the same with the remaining eggs, then simmer them all very gently for 1 minute. Turn off the heat, cover the pan and leave them to sit for 5 minutes, until the eggs are just set. Meanwhile, make your dressing by mixing together the oil, lemon juice, mustard and dill.

Put the watercress, asparagus and broad beans into a bowl and mix lightly with the dressing. Season with plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Serve the salad on a large platter or 4 individual plates, top with the eggs and slices of ham, and tuck in.