Asparagus With Lemon Butter

Lemon butter is one of my favorite ways of saucing a dish. Here I offer a quick and easy method of using it with asparagus, and as an added bonus the whole thing is cooked in the microwave.

My recipe is for four people assuming 8-10 asparagus stalks per bunch. Of course you can increase this as you see fit. You need:

• 2 asparagus bunches
• 60g butter
• zest and juice from one lemon
• freshly chopped coriander (cilantro)
• black pepper

The first thing to do is to trim the asparagus by snapping off the woody ends of the stalks and then peeling them from just below the head down with a potato peeler.

Place the prepared spears in a shallow glass or microwave dish, dot them with butter and pour over the mixed lemon juice and zest. Grate the black pepper generously over the dish.

Cover and cook in the microwave on high for 10 minutes. Carefully drain the juices into a separate jug or bowl, arrange the asparagus spears on plates and scatter over the chopped coriander. Finish off with the cooking juices and serve at once.

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