"Come, friendly bombs, and fall on Slough!
It isn't fit for humans now,
There isn't grass to graze a cow."
Sir John Betjeman
Apologies to anyone living in Slough, but this rather unfair poem of Betjeman's came into my head as I was surveying our back garden in the village and feeling smug. I was also contemplating how wonderful it would be if humans could graze. Sometimes just looking at a lush rural scene isn't enough and I want to get in there and munch.
As I was pondering why being "put out to grass" is a negative phrase in the English language, a neighbour arrived and, as her livestock chomped their way through the vegetation (ignoring the flowers), she gave me a quick lesson in collecting wild asparagus.
I can usually find 6 or 7 stalks but never enough for a meal, but she let me into the secret - tilkişen hides in the midst of prickly plants, so always look for the spiky bush first and then focus in on the thin stalks of asparagus.
Tilkişen is usually fried in oil and/or butter with an egg scrambled in at the last minute but I posted a slightly more sophisticated recipe here.
My daughter and her partner went in search and between them, (being generous to Esi here - Celal found all of it) came up with a good haul.
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