Asparagus is one of my favourite green vegetables and I love them warm, cold, as a side dish or just on their own.

And they are easy to prepare, if you follow a few basic steps. Start by chopping off the last 2 cm from the stem. This is often a little woody.

Some chefs bundle them, stand them upright in boiling water and cook until done but I prefer them lightly steamed.

Simply place them stems pointing towards the centre in a colander over a saucepan with a little water, cover and steam gently until just starting to soften.

Remove the asparagus from the heat and place on a platter. Squeeze a little lemon juice over them and add a few small blobs of butter, salt and black pepper.

This lovely light summer starter is rounded off with a sprinkling of chopped boiled egg and yoghurt.

Ingredients

20 asparagus spears

2 hardboiled eggs, well chilled and finely chopped

8 lemon wedges

For the sauce:

250ml Greek yoghurt

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley

1 teaspoon dried tarragon

Mix all the sauce ingredients and set aside

Prepare the asparagus as above

Serve on to four plates

Sprinkle with chopped hardboiled egg

Decorate with lemon wedges

Serve the yoghourt sauce separately