POACHED WHITE ASPARAGUS

w/ SMOKED PARSNIP, MARCONA ALMOND, WATERCRESS & CURED YOLK

Serves 4

1 lb white asparagus

1 cup smoked parsnip puree

1-2 TBL watercress vinaigrette

1-2 tsp dried caper powder

1 cured egg yolk

2 cups parsnip chips

2 TBL crushed marcona almonds

FOR POACHING:

2 qt h2o

1 lemon, halved and juiced

½ c (1 stick) butter

2 TBL salt

White asparagus is grown underground and thus doesn’t produce any chlorophyll. It tends to have a milder, sweeter flavor than green asparagus. White asparagus also tends to be more fibrous, so I recommend peeling the outer scale leaves. This will give you spears that are smooth and glossy once poached. Trim the bottom 1.5” of the stem; save for stock.

In a medium-sized stock pot, combine butter, lemon juice, salt, and h2o and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and add cleaned asparagus and let cook for 3 minutes. Remove with tongs or slotted spoon and drain. Let cool. Serve at room temp.

FOR PARSNIP PUREE

3 parsnips (plus more for chips)

1 small potato

½ cup buttermilk

1 tsp salt, or more to taste

¼ cup jasmine rice

¼ cup genmaicha or other green tea

This is the same wok-smoking method we’ve used before, like with our smoked whitefish dip. It’s super easy and you can use this method to smoke just about anything indoors.

Using two large pieces of tin foil, line the base of the wok, placing the second piece at a 90-degree angle to the first so that the wok is completely lined and there are 3-4 inches of excess foil over the edge. In the bottom of the wok, place uncooked jasmine rice and tea leaves. Place a small grill pan or resting rack over the rice and tea, with an inch or so of space between the top of the rice mix and the bottom of the rack. Wad a couple pieces of foil to place beneath the rack if you need to raise it. If you want a gentler smoky flavor—although this method of smoking is much milder than using woodchips or coal—form a disk of tin foil to place over the rice and tea mix.

Place the peeled parsnips on the rack, and cover the wok, sealing the edges with the excess foil. Turn heat on to high for 5 minutes or until smoking, then dial back to med-high and cook for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, uncover and let parsnips rest until cool enough to handle. (Open the wok outside to keep from releasing any smoke in the house.) Discard foil and burnt rice/tea.

Pre-heat oven to 350. Once parsnips are cooled, cut into 1” rings and place on a lined baking sheet. Lightly dress with olive oil and season with salt. (I prefer to omit pepper here in order to achieve a clean beige puree.) Cover with foil to prevent further browning, and roast until fork-tender, about 30-35 min. Meanwhile, peel the potato and cut into 1” chunks. Add to cool water and bring to a boil until tender.

In a food processor or blender, combine roasted parsnips, potato, buttermilk and blend until smooth and pudding-like. Incorporate buttermilk a little at a time so you achieve the consistency you want. Add more salt or buttermilk as needed. Don’t worry if you make too much of this stuff. It’s crazy delicious and can be used for so many other things when you need to make something on the fly.

DRIED CAPERS

You’ll only need about a ½ tsp of dried capers per serving, but these are easier to make in a larger batch. I’d suggest using the remaining capers from the jar after making the watercress vinaigrette. They’re shelf stable and great to throw into salads or pastas or whatever for a little briny punch.

You can go about this a number of ways. The easiest way is to drain the capers and pat dry, then spread on a lined baking sheet. Dehydrated in the oven on the lowest temperature setting until completely dry. Once dried and cooled, grind in a spice grinder for a fine caper powder. Alternatively, you could fry the capers in a saute pan and leave whole or crushed. But note that dehydrating after frying is tricky, since “fixed” oils, like vegetable and cooking oils, are resistant to evaporation.

FOR PLATING:

Serve dish slightly cool or room temp. With a large plating spoon, schmear a dollop of the parsnip puree at the base of the plate. Drizzle a couple concentric rings of watercress vinaigrette. Lay asparagus spears across the middle, and top with crushed marcona almonds and grated egg yolk. Place a small bundle of the parsnip chips, and finish with a sprinkle of the dehydrated caper powder. Pure magic.

WATERCRESS VINAIGRETTE

(Yield: ½ cup)

20g watercress

10g capers, drained

25g distilled white vinegar

20g lemon juice (about ½ a lemon)

10g red wine vinegar

12g honey

3g salt

.5g black pepper, or about 5 cranks

10g olive oil

30g grapeseed oil

⅛ tsp xantham gum (optional)

Remove and discard any wilted watercress leaves. Combine everything except for olive and grapeseed oils and blend until smooth. Once smooth, slowly incorporate oils while blending until emulsified. The vinaigrette will be a little loose. If you want it thick enough to drizzle and hold its line, add xantham gum (remember, a little goes a really long way) and blend to fully incorporate. Transfer to a squeeze bottle until ready to use.

CRISPY PARSNIP CHIPS

2 parsnips

1 qt blend or frying oil

Prepare a sheet pan lined with a few paper towels and a baking rack. Pour oil in a wok or dutch oven for frying and bring up to 375 degrees. The temp will drop as soon as you add the parsnip strips. Using a vegetable peeler, peel and discard outer skin of parsnip. Continue to peel around the parsnip in half-length strips (about 3-4”) until you reach the inner core. You can basically whittle that thing down to the palm of your hand. Strips can be the width of anywhere between a pencil and a band-aid, and having a little variation is great. No need to soak these. Fry in a couple batches for about 3 min, or until golden brown. They’ll still seem a bit flaccid when you pull them, but don’t worry; they’ll crisp up just fine. Remove and transfer to the baking rack. Season immediately with salt. Once cooled, you can store in tupperware and they’ll stay crisp up to 3 days.

CURED EGG YOLK

4 egg yolks (or as many or few as you want; a single yolk will be plenty for this dish)

1 cup kosher salt

½ cup granulated sugar

FIrst, what’s happening here: with salt curing, what’s really occurring is that salt inhibits the growth of unwanted micro bacteria by drawing out moisture through osmosis. This allows for lactobacillus, or lactic acid, to come to the forefront. The addition of sugar, although not necessary for curing egg yolks, gives the lactic bacteria something to feed on, so in effect this is small-scale fermentation. The lactic acid creates a complex array of umami characteristics in the yolks, which is why they work great in lieu of the more ubiquitous and umami-rich aged parmesan cheese.

We like the flavor produced by the addition of sugar, so we use a mix of 2:1 salt and sugar. In a shallow non-reactive container, pour about ½” even layer of the salt/sugar mixture. Make a little divot to nestle the yolks. Carefully crack the eggs, separating the yolks from the whites, and gently placing the yolks intact in the divots. With remaining salt/sugar mix, create another layer to fully cover the yolks. Cover with a lid or plastic wrap and let cure for 5 days. After day 5, remove yolks and rinse off curing mix under cool running water. The yolks should be firm and just a little tacky. Traditionally the yolks would now get wrapped in cheesecloth and air-dried for several days, but a dehydrator or oven helps expedite the process. Heat oven to lowest setting, around 150 degrees, and dry for about 25-30 minutes. Eggs are good to go and will keep for a few weeks covered in the fridge. Use a microplane or fine grater on the yolks for plating,

DRIED CAPERS