Savoury Asparagus Oatmeal

To make the savoury oatmeal, first make 400ml of boiling vegetable stock. Put the coarse oatmeal in a saucepan and pour over half the vegetable stock. Bring the oatmeal to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring regularly and adding more stock as you go, until the oatmeal is soft but with a sight bite.

While the oatmeal is cooking, pan fry the asparagus in a little oil, cook for 6 minutes. Then add the garlic and cook for a further 2-4 minutes until the asparagus is lightly charred and al dente. Remove the asparagus and garlic from the heat and finely slice a couple of the asparagus spears.

Once the oatmeal is cooked, remove from the heat and stir through the finely sliced asparagus, a sprinkle of fresh thyme leaves and add few twists of black pepper.

To serve, spoon the asparagus oatmeal into two bowls, add the pan-fried asparagus spears and a few more fresh thyme leaves.