pancetta-wrapped salmon with griddled asparagus and lime creme fraiche

Seasonal and summery, and finally it's the hottest day of the year so far! A day where I managed to get my first sunburn/tan on my run around Richmond Park this morning and following ride to Twickenham's glamorous Job Centre Plus. Who said being on the dole was bad? It's good for suntans and fitness!

I suppose a brief post-school run around the park probably helped as well, although luckily (or not) Milo decided it was so lovely and summery, he'd rather spend the evening sat in a sleeping bag on the sofa watching Captain America. Children, tsk!

Whilst he grouched about the weather, we got into the spirit of it all with a classic summery fish dish - pancetta-wrapped salmon and bang-on-season asparagus. Again.

Strangely, and I can't quite fathom why, this week it's infinitely less fishy than when we had exactly the same recipe as last week. Maybe getting the fishmonger to skin the fillets helped? Either way, it's a total winner tonight, and a great way to use up some sad-looking salad.

The asparagus launches me into whole world of middle-class fretting: We're slap-bang in British Asparagus season, so how come all the angiosperms in Waitrose are from Chile? Not that it makes much difference to my asparagus wee of course, it's I'd just like it to be good, honest British asparagus-smelling wee. It IS St George's Day after all!

Wine Time
I'm going to avoid all the usual St George's Day hoopla about English wine, mainly because fizz apart, it's generally awful. Instead we're heading down under because there's one grape that screams asparagus, as well as being crisp enough to nail the oily salmon: Kiwi Sauvignon. You want a grassy version rather than anything too tropical, so look for green notes rather than passion fruit, mango and Um Bongo and you won't go too wrong.

sources
pancetta-wrapped salmon with griddled asparagus and lime creme fraiche - Delicious, June 2010, p23