Hunting Wild Asparagus in the Ampurdán

At certain times of the year throughout Catalonia you see cars pulled over to the side of the road and people foraging in the undergrowth for something that will later end up on their plate. It doesn’t always end well though; the mushroom season often brings with it tales of families being wiped out by a wrongly identified variety and people disappear for days on end after losing their path in the woods.

This being March means wild asparagus is now in season and so people are out there clutching plastic bags as they search for those long green spears that are considered a delicacy here. As the wild asparagus is so thin it doesn’t stand up to steaming or grilling as I’d usually do and instead it is usually cut into pieces, sautéed and served in an omelette.

Unfortunately, with the exception of Spanish omelette, I can’t stand omelette!

Some years we’ve wandered into the forest at l’Escala only to find that someone had been there before us and been pretty thorough, but this year we managed to get there first and within a fairly small area picked a couple of handfuls within the space of an hour. Usually we go far further afield and harvest a smaller crop, so this year’s asparagus expedition was excellent.

Back home in Barcelona we washed and trimmed the spears and cut them up into smaller pieces. Sautéing them in a small amount of olive oil, I proceeded to serve them with three scrambled eggs made with plenty of butter, while my other half treated herself to an omelette, the authentic Catalan way.

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