Ingredients
Serves 8
2 bunches of asparagus (20-24 spears)
2 eggs
½ cup olive oil
2 tbsp red wine or sherry vinegar
2 tsp mustard
¼ tsp salt
3 tbsp roughly chopped capers
4 tsp chopped finely shallots
½ a bunch of parsley chopped finely (about 15 branches)
Preparation
1- Start by hard boiling your eggs. Gently lower your eggs into boiling water. Lower your heat to a soft boil so that your eggs don’t bounce around and soft boil for 3 minutes. Cut the heat and let them sit for 15 minutes in the water. Your yolks should turn out nice and yellow.
2- Prepare your asparagus by holding each end and bending the spear until it breaks at its natural breaking point. Straighten off the end by cutting the tiniest bit. If they are thick asparagus like you find in France, I recommend peeling their skins. Peeling the skin will take your spears to the next level. To do this, start peeling just under the asparagus head. This will add on about 10 minutes of prep time.
3- Fill a large soup pot about half way with water and bring to a boil. Salt generously as you would pasta. Your asparagus will not be in long so this is the time to infuse them with salt. Before adding your asparagus to the boiling water, prepare an ice bath to stop to cooking process once done (see photo below.)
4- Mindfully lower your asparagus into the boiling water. Allow them to cook for about 4 minutes and then start checking them with the tip of a sharp knife. You want a touch of resistance. This can take 4-8 minutes depending on the thickness of your spears.
5- Once cooked, with a slotted spoon transfer them to their ice bath and allow them to cool. Transfer them to a clean towel to pat them dry. If you are assembling them now, you can slice them down the middle lengthwise and put them aside.
* If you are making these ahead of time, store them in a tupperware in the fridge.
6- Prepare your vinaigrette by measuring out your red wine vinegar, olive oil, mustard and salt. Whisk this together and add in your finely chopped shallots, chopped capers and finely chopped parsley. Add them into the vinaigrette, mix it up, taste and adjust.
*If you are making your vinaigrette ahead of time, omit the parsley and add it in day of.
7- Chop up and add your egg to your vinaigrette. I like to do a rough chop and smaller pieces.
6- If you have not yet cut your asparagus down the middle, go ahead and do so (unless they are already thing.) Start to assemble your dish by putting a layer of asparagus in your serving platter and then slathering on about ⅓ of your vinaigrette. I like to spread it around so that the asparagus are covered. Keep layering your spears and adding vinaigrette until it’s all assembled and you are ready to serve. Enjoy!
Step 1
Gather your ingredients. Asparagus, eggs, olive oil, red wine vinegar, mustard, salt, capers, shallots and parsley, eggs.
The natural break of the asparagus seems so wasteful but the lower end of the stem is woody, tough and unpleasant to eat.
Trim the bottom of the asparagus leaving a clean cut.
If you peel your asparagus spears you can start just under the head.
Prepare your ice bath, peeled asparagus, and a slotted spoon to lower the asparagus and fish them out.
I use about 2 tbsp of big grey sea salt in my soup pot of boiling water that I have filled only half way up to just cover my asparagus.
When you first add in your asparagus the temperature of the water will go down and it will take a minute to come back to a boil.
Once cooked to your liking transfer the asparagus to your ice bath. This will halt the cooking process so they won't overcook and become soggy and limp!
Whether you are using them now or storing them in the fridge for a later time, pat them dry with a clean towel.
When placing in a tupperware do your best to keep them flat. You can alternate directions.
Finely chop up your shallots.
Any leftover shallots and parsley stems I toss them into my "garbage" freezer bag for broth at a later time.
Roughly chop up your capers in order to disperse the flavor more.
I like to finely chop up the parsley.
First add in your olive oil, vinegar, mustard and salt. Mix that up and then add in the shallots, capers and parsley. Always taste and adjust if need be.
For my eggs I start by slicing them.
Then I chop them up. I like a rustic chop.
Add the eggs into your vinaigrette. You may need to add in some olive oil. In this case it definitely needs olive oil in order for it to spread on the asparagus.
I slice my asparagus lengthwise for visual purposes plus doubling your batch is an added bonus!
Layer a first round of asparagus and vinaigrette. You most likely will have to spread the vinaigrette around.
Repeat the layering process until everything is in the serving plate and you're ready to go!
These are best assembled last minute but this is not always realistic. Don't be afraid to assemble before guests arrive and then turn your asparagus mindfully to recoat them with the vinaigrette that may sink to the bottom of the dish. Enjoy!
My friend Anouk made David Lebovitz’s Asparagus Mimosa for Easter lunch one year and we all loved them. This dish intimidated me for several years because it looks complicated to make but it turns out that it’s quite manageable plus has the added bonus of cooking your aspargus and eggs a few days before which gives you a nice head start. The vinaigrette if best made the day of and assembly of the dish itself should be day of also.
David’s original recipe is here if you’d like to have a peek. I have slightly adjusted his recipe to suit my palate by making more vinaigrette and slicing the asparagus down the enter in order t have more vinaigrette
Enjoy!
