Bring a pasta pot of water to a good rolling boil. Add a good pinch of salt.

Trim off the stalks of your asparagus. The best way to tell when you’re at the start of the less ‘woody’ part of the asparagus is to let your knife ‘fall’ onto the asparagus as you go up the stem. When the knife leaves a little ‘cut’ in the asparagus, that’s the place to trim it. Then chop off the tops of the asparagus about 5cm from the tip.

Fill a bowl large enough to hold the asparagus stalks with water and add the ice cubes. We want the asparagus stalks to stop cooking as soon as we pull them out of the boiling water. This helps keep the colour nice and pretty green too.

Add the asparagus stalks to the pasta pot. Leave them in the water for five minutes.

When the time is up transfer the asparagus to the bowl with the ice cubes.

Add the asparagus tips to the pasta pot. Leave them in the water for one minute. When the time is up transfer the asparagus to the bowl with the ice cubes.

Put a grill pan on full heat and add the pancetta. You want the pancetta to be crispy, so don’t be shy with the heat. When the pancetta is almost starting to burn it should be quite crispy. Transfer to a plate with some paper towels on it to soak up some of the oil.

When the pancetta cools down chop it up finely.

Leaving the grill pan on, pat dry, and add the asparagus tips.

Add the asparagus stalks to a blender, with a little of the water from the pasta pot. Blend to a purée and add salt to taste.

In a deep sauté pan filled near the brim with water, bring the water to the boil and then turn the heat down until you have a light boil, with bubbles coming to the surface like you get with water in a freshly opened bottle of sparkling mineral water.

Break each egg into a small cup with a handle and slide the cup into the water. Let water enter the cup for a few seconds (you’ll see the white of the egg start to cook) and then gently tip the egg into the pan. Do the same with the next egg and start your timer.

When the time is up use a slotted spoon to remove the eggs. Place on a plate while you finish the dish.

Put the asparagus purée into a saucepan over medium heat and add the Parmigiano Reggiano.

When the asparagus tips are grilled nicely, remove them from the heat.

Put a few tablespoons of the asparagus purée in each small bowl. Carefully slide the egg on top and place the asparagus tips around the egg.

Sprinkle the pancetta and the toasted breadcrumbs around the egg. Pretty, isn’t it? Now toast it with some Prosecco!