The last asparagus dish: with eggs and healthier "hollandaise"

So sadly, it's the end of the English asparagus season. The traditional last day of picking is the longest day of the year, which was yesterday. So you might still find it in shops and markets for the next day or two.

I made this kind of celebratory brunch as a farewell to English asparagus, and just because it tastes good. It's a bit more effort than I usually go to in the morning, but I decided it was worth it. Plus, I had some of the "hollandaise" left over for another meal.

There's no reason why you need to restrict this to a morning dish. You could swap the toast or muffins for a bed of couscous, or maybe some crushed new potatoes, and you'd have an elegant lunch or dinner.

This recipe is slightly adapted from the wonderful Sprouted Kitchen blog. As soon as I saw this idea for a healthier hollandaise, I loved it. Eggs benedict (or egg florentine for vegetarians) is a wonderful, indulgent dish, but I do have difficulties with the idea of consuming about half a pack of butter at breakfast. This sauce tastes completely different from hollandaise, but still has that kind of richness and creaminess, and partners brilliantly with the asparagus and spinach. And when your runny egg yolk oozes into it - for me, that's bliss.

Ingredients

Serves two to four, depending on your appetite.

2 English muffins, split into halves, or 4 slices of bread
4 large eggs
About 150g fresh spinach, any large stems removed
1 bunch asparagus - you want 8 to 12 spears, tough ends trimmed off

For the pepper sauce:

3 yellow peppers, roasted until soft (you can do this a day in advance, or use jarred ones, if you can find yellow ones in a jar. You can also use red peppers, but the sauce will look a lot less like hollandaise)
50g /2oz cream cheese (low-fat is fine)
25g /1oz soft goats' cheese (you can use extra cream cheese instead, if you find a goats' cheese a bit much first thing in the morning)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp mustard (I used English - if Dijon is what you have, use a little extra)
50-100ml milk
Splash of chilli sauce (optional)

Method

First, make the sauce. Put all the ingredients except the milk in a food processor or blender. Whizz up until smooth, adding the milk a little at a time until you have the desired consistency - it should be a pourable sauce with a thickness similar to hollandaise or double cream.

Wash and chop the spinach roughly (no need to do this if it's baby leaf spinach) and cook for a few minutes in a dry saucepan, or in the microwave, until wilted.

Cook the asparagus your favourite way - I roasted it for about 10 minutes with a tiny bit of olive oil, but steamed is good here too.

Put the eggs into a pan of boiling water to poach and toast the bread or muffins. Warm the sauce gently in a pan or microwave.

Top each slice of toast (or muffin half) with a quarter of the spinach, then 2-3 spears of asparagus, then a good spoonful of sauce, then a poached egg, then some more sauce. Enjoy.