Trim off the whitish, woody ends of the asparagus, if they haven't already been trimmed by your market. Peel each asparagus starting from just below the tips all the way down the spear. Tie all the asparagus spears together into a bunch with some butcher's string. (I often just use the ties that the asparagus was sold with.)

Take your asparagus cooker (see Notes) and pour in enough water to come up about 5cm/2 inches up the sides. Add a generous pinch of salt. Turn on the heat and when the water comes to a boil, place the asparagus in the cooker basket, tips upward, and insert the basket into the cooker. (Take care not to scald your fingers!) Replace the cover.

Steam the asparagus for about 5 minutes or so, until just tender. Remove the basket from the cooker, and let the asparagus cool and drain on a counter.

When the asparagus have cooled off but are still a bit warm, remove them from the basket, untie them and arrange them on a serving plate, in layers if necessary, spooning the sauce over them, making sure that all the layers gets a bit of sauce, all up and down the spears.

Serve with additional lemon wedges on the side for those who like their asparagus tangier and, if you like, sprinkle over some fleur de sel.