I have my old favourites. Boil and douse in a good extra-virgin olive oil and a few glugs of balsamic before showering it with shaved pecorino (some ricotta or a poached egg wouldn’t go amiss). I make this so often I could cook it in my sleep. Hollandaise with asparagus is, of course, food for angels, but I’m not willing to cook for angels mid-week so I keep this classic for weekend meals.

The delicate flavour of asparagus – it is reminiscent of nettles and gooseberries – does well where it can star. It’s good bathed in butter or oil, or paired with starchy ingredients, but it doesn’t pay to get fancy. Both pasta – toss asparagus with fettuccine and reduced double cream with grated lemon rind – and risotto rice are perfect backgrounds for it.

Risotto allows you to get your money’s worth, as the asparagus flavours the stock as it cooks. I love dipping spears into a boiled egg. Surprisingly, cheese is good with asparagus as well, as long as it’s not too strong and is 'clean’-tasting.

Sometimes it pays to come at food from an odd angle. Sauvignon blanc is said to taste of nettles, gooseberries and asparagus, and indeed the wine is a fine match for goat’s cheese. It’s not a big leap to work out that goat’s cheese has a good chance of being delicious with asparagus.

Scatter spears with chunks of soft goat’s cheese, melted butter and black pepper. If you can crack open a bottle of sauvignon to have with it, so much the better.

Oddly, taleggio – that soft Italian cheese that smells of farmyards – is lovely with asparagus, even though it’s no shrinking violet. In fact, asparagus and Jersey Royal potatoes tossed in butter, topped with taleggio and grilled until the cheese is melting is great. Actually, I fancy it right now. You probably think food writers only write about dishes in retrospect. Sometimes the very act of writing makes us rush to the kitchen. Gosh, I’m hungry…