Eggs and Asparagus For Brunch

I love to go out for breakfast or brunch on weekends or on days when I'm not working, but now with two little kids, it's not the relaxing affair it once was. No more leisurely reading the paper, ordering extra coffee and taking time to eat something delicious. It's more like quickly shoveling something in before the kids go mental and tear the cafe apart!

Cooking a nice meal for brunch at home has become more the norm lately. Eggs and bacon are always good, but sometimes it's nice to do something a bit different and a bit more fancy. Sometimes you want to feel like you are eating something that you would get at a cafe.

I love asparagus and soft poached eggs, so when I saw that Australian asparagus was in season, I jumped at the chance to buy some and cook up a breakfast storm.

As a lot of you know, I subscribe to Australian Gourmet Traveller magazine and get lots of my foodie inspiration from its glorious recipes and fantastic photos. In the most recent issue, they have a dish for roasted asparagus and eggs, aimed as a quick mid week meal. Why not tweak it a bit and make it into a fabulous breakfast dish instead?

We ate ours with some fresh baguette from a local patisserie, but you could use any sort of bread you like. Toasted sourdough with lashings of butter would be great too!

Asparagus with Poached Eggs and Herby Tomato Sauce

1 1/2 bunches of asparagus, woody ends snapped off
A drizzle of olive oil
4 eggs
1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 shallot, finely diced
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 ripe tomato, diced
1 Tbs red wine vinegar
2 Tbs each chopped parsley and mint
Salt and pepper to taste
100g fresh ricotta
Fresh baguette or other bread to serve

Prepare the sauce first.
Heat extra virgin olive oil in a saucepan or frypan and add shallot and garlic and fry until soft but not brown.
Add chopped tomato, vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. Take off the heat and set aside to infuse. Just before serving, stir through the fresh parsley and mint.
Place asparagus in a heat proof dish and pour over boiling water. Stand for a minute or two and then drain.
Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a grill pan and fry blanched asparagus spears for a minute or so until lightly golden and tender. Keep warm.
For the poached eggs, bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil and turn down the heat until it is barely simmering. Crack eggs individually  into cups, then slowly tip into the simmering water. Poach for about 3 minutes for runny yolks.
When eggs are cooked, remove from the water with a slotted spoon to drain the water.
To serve, divide asparagus spears between two plates and top with two poached eggs each. Blob ricotta cheese around and over the top. Carefully spoon the tomato and herb sauce over the top.
Finish with extra cracked black pepper and your favourite bread.