Let’s hear it for St. Pat’s and a green vegetable recipe.
First day of Spring is March 20 but I couldn’t wait to make this recipe using one of Springtime’s favorite vegetables.
And, besides, it’s St. Pat’s Day and I had to do something green. Back in my husband’s college days at University of Missouri-Rolla St. Pat’s Day was a really big deal. Everyone started growing their beards months in advance for the big green holiday. At the time I would say the majority of the campus was engineers; so you imagine what their floats looked like, all mechanical with a different theme each year. I even remember one year stuffing tissue paper in the float to help. The fraternity he was in served up green milk, green mashed potatoes, green beer; you name it, it was colored green.
So, what would St. Patty’s Day be without a green vegetable.
I happened up on this recipe after I download a new app “Tasting Table”. On that site I read about bar food not to miss….. and Dirty Habit in San Francisco was one of them and I found this recipe from one of the chefs on the site. This is Chef David Bazirgan’s recipe and the sauce is his take on a gribiche sauce. A sauce gribiche is a mayonnaise-style cold egg sauce in the French cuisine. David did his version of a deconstructed gribiche and I really like the results which look much better than pictures I saw of a gribiche sauce which has pickles in it.
Searing the asparagus on a hot grill brings out the sweetness of the vegetable, but you could easily roast or broil in the oven. I used a stove top grill pan because I didn’t want to lose any of the asparagus to the outdoor grill.
The first time I made this last Saturday, it was for another “sick” present for my friend, Peggy who is also recovering from foot surgery. I prepared the egg the way David described in his instructions and I really had a hard time peeling them so I decided to use my silicone poaching cups to poach the gas and that way I didn’t have to worry about peeling. I did warn Peggy that she might find a shell or two (she didn’t) since the eggs were almost impossible to peel.
I hope you will try this, if not for St. Pat’s day, sometime this Spring when you purchase your fresh out of the ground asparagus.
BLAST FROM THE PAST: Potatoes Colcannon is another Irish dish that I serve often on St. Patrick’s day or any other time. If you could even give it a try with mashed cauliflower instead of potatoes.
Finely chop shallot and set aside. (This isn’t finely chopped yet.)
Set up your dressing ingredients. The first bowl of vinegar is meant to go into the cooking eggs. See note how I did the egg.
Toss the asparagus with 1-2 tablespoons of the olive oil and grill on grill top or you could broil it for a few minutes.
The second time I made this on Saturday, instead of doing the egg the way David suggested I poached the eggs in my silicone poaching cups then shocked in the ice water to stop cooking.
After you mash your egg with a fork, use a whisk to incorporate the olive oil and the vinegar, shallots and bacon.
Now the dressing is ready to pour over the grilled asparagus.
- 4 c. water
- 1 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 Tbsp. white vinegar
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 c. plus 2 Tbsp. olive oil
- 2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
- 2 Tbsp. diced Spanish-style chorizo (I used thick sliced bacon)
- 1Tbsp. finely diced shallot
- 1/4 tsp. black pepper
- 1 1/2 lbs. fat asparagus, ends trimmed
- Prepare an ice bath and set aside. In a medium saucepan over high heat, add the water, 1 teaspoon of the salt, the white vinegar and the eggs. Bring to a boil, then remove from the heat and let stand for 4 minutes. Shock the eggs in the ice water bath. Once the eggs are cool, peel and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, smash the eggs into small pieces using the back of a fork, then stir in ¼ cup of the olive oil, red wine vinegar, chorizo, shallot, pepper and the remaining salt until well incorporated.
- Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Toss the asparagus with the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and grill until cooked through and slightly charred, about 2 to 3 minutes on each side. Serve warm with the egg mixture spooned over the top.
- David's recipe called for Chorizo instead of the bacon. I don't care for chorizo so I substituted thick sliced applewood bacon and cut in lardons. Also, the way David says to do the eggs didn't work for me. After poaching, icing etc, the egg was almost impossible to peel. Maybe I didn't poach long enough. I decided it was much easier just to poach normally. I used my silicone cups but you could use glass ramekins or drop the cracked eggs in boiling water and poach until soft boiled. You still need to shock in the ice water to stop the cooking of the yolk. One other thing, I used thick sliced apple wood smoked bacon. I would not buy apple wood next time because I thought it was a little sweet.
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