Pepper, courgette and asparagus couscous

This is a very green salad, that goes well with chicken. It's probably a complete waste of asparagus, but I had a couple of stalks leftover from something I'd made the other day, so I chucked it in.

This makes enough for 4 adults, if you're using it as a side-dish. You'll need:

1 green pepper, diced
1 medium courgette, chopped into chunks
a couple of spring onions, sliced
4 or 5 stalks of asparagus, sliced
olive oil
butter
black pepper
100g couscous
a handful of raisins
a few flaked almonds

Fry the pepper and spring onions in a good slug of olive oil for 3 or 4 minutes, until they've softened. Add the courgette, and cook for another 3-4 minutes, and finally the asparagus (that'll only need a couple of minutes).

In the meantime, melt a knob of butter in a large pan. Add the couscous, and stir round for a minute or two on a low heat. Pour in some hot water (you need the couscous to be covered by about a centimetre), and allow it to become absorbed (this might take a couple of minutes). Test the couscous - if it's really hard still, add a little more water, and give it another minute. Turn the heat off and cover the pan with a plate so the steam can't escape. Leave for 4-5 minutes.

Fluff up the couscous with a fork, and tip into the pepper/courgette/asparagus mixture. Mix everything carefully together, and season with lots of black pepper. Scatter the raisins and flaked almonds on the top.

You may find you need a little olive oil drizzled on top when you serve it (or maybe a squeeze of lemon juice). Some chopped flatleaf parsley would also be nice.

Asparagus, lemon and parsley pasta

This should really be called 'Spring pasta', as it's so green. You were delighted at the thought that your wee would be too.

It's adapted from a Nigella Lawson recipe in Forever Summer - her pasta recipes are lovely, and very simple to make.

Makes enough for three (two big, one small). You'll need:

a small lemon, zested and juiced
a very good splosh of olive oil
a clove of garlic, finely chopped
asparagus - whatever you can get your hands on (and afford - although this recipe is great because it stretches it quite a long way!)
lots of black pepper
grated cheese (something like pecorino or parmesan would be good - we happened to have mature cheddar in the fridge)
a handful of flat leaf parsley, washed and chopped
pasta (six good handfuls)

First of all, chop up your asparagus - bend the spears near the base until they break (discard the very woody bottom bit, and keep to use in some soup), and then chop into inch-long pieces.

Bung your pasta in some boiling water. Ideally, you need to cook this in the base of a steamer, and then you can stick the asparagus on top (you can just use a colander and a lid over the top of a pan if not). Keep an eye on your pasta, and once it's about 5 minutes' away from being done, pop the asparagus in the steamer on top (it'll take about 3-4 minutes).

In the meantime, tip a good slosh of olive oil in a frying pan on a low heat, and fry the garlic for a couple of minutes. Add the lemon juice, and switch off the heat.

Once the asparagus is cooked, whip it off the top of the pasta. Drain the pasta once it's al dente (not too soggy in other words), and tip into the frying pan or a bowl with the olive oil/garlic/lemon juice mix. Chuck in the asparagus, lemon zest and parsley, and swish it all round together.

Tip into bowls to serve - it'll need a good grind of pepper on top, and a generous scattering of cheese.