strawberries in paris

Spring Eats from Alinea

For the Derby party Ned and I attended he wanted to go crazy and pull a recipe from his Alinea cookbook. I dutifully assisted him and it turned out great!

So this dish is titled- Yolk Drops – asparagus, meyer lemon, black pepper. What a colorful dish! And those yolk drops definitely look like corn, but they tasted like delectable egg bits. The lemon puree (underneath the bits) really tied everything together and we decided to use lemon slices as a “plate” (much more party friendly!).

Asparagus

1300 g (2 lb 13.9 oz) jumbo asparagus spears (note the jumbo!)

Fill large bowl with ice water. Bring large pot of water to a boil. Cut off asparagus tips and reserve. Cut off and discard fibrous ends. Cut remaining stalk into 1 inch segments and reserve. Select about 8 tips and break them into individual buds each about 1/8 inch long. Cook buds in boiling water for 10 seconds. Transfer to paper towel-lined container and reserve. Cook stalk segments for 45 seconds. Transfer to ice water to cool for 2 minutes. Drain.

(Meyer) Lemon Puree

3 lemons (we were too lazy to go to whole foods for meyers)
15 g simple syrup
3 g salt

Quarter lemons and remove seeds and fibers (fibers… I think this is the key that I neglected, alas we had to add alot more sugar to make it less bitter). Transfer to blender, add simple syrup, and blend on high speed until smooth. Strain through chinois, add salt and reserve.

Egg Yolk Drops (these were definitely the most time consuming, but patient Ned happily slaved over the little pan).

10 egg yolks
3g salt
680 g (1lb 8 oz) clarified butter

In large bowl, whisk together egg yolks and salt. Strain through chinois (ha! like we have a chinois…) Transfer to squeeze bottle. In medium saucepan, heat butter to 170 deg F. Squeeze single drops of yolk mixture into butter, taking care to keep drops separate. Allow drops to cook for 10 seconds, then lift slightly from pan bottom with small spatula. When drops begin to float, transfer to chinois to drain. Reserve warm.

Lemon Vinaigrette (which I had to do twice- darn tricky scale!)

20 g (meyer) lemon juice
50 g grapeseed oil (we used canola)
5 g salt

In small bowl, whisk together all ingredients!