The Anonymous Widower

Asparagus Egg Dippers with Smoked Salmon

I’ve eaten in some very good restaurants in my time, although these days I tend to like to cook myself, as I like the thrill of creating something. But I’ve never eaten in Heston Blumenthal ‘s, Fat Duck, as I feel that his eclectic taste and ideas may not fit with being a coeliac.

So today, as I had some spare asparagus and I was going to Waitrose, I made sure that I had the basics for this recipe of Heston Blumenthal’s that the supermarket is promoting.

It was very simple and all it required was :-

• 250g of asparagus
• 1 tbsp of grapeseed oil – I’m not as posh as Heston thinks he is, so I used some good olive oil.
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper.
• 100g of smoked salmon – I used some from Pinney’s of Orford.
• 2 medium eggs although I think mine were large ones – Interestingly, I buy them in fours from Waitrose, which is a very sensible number for someone living alone.

The method is as follows.

1. Remove the woody part of the asparagus stems by gently snapping off the ends (they should break naturally) – I’d never have thought of snapping them, so at least it saved a knife from the washing up.
2.  Coat the bottom of a frying pan with the oil then add the asparagus, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, and cover with a lid. Place the pan over a medium heat for approximately 5 minutes, or until the asparagus spears are cooked but still a vibrant green. Remove the pan from the heat and place the asparagus on kitchen paper to remove any excess oil – I actually tasted some after thy had been cooked and they were good.
3. Cover a chopping board with a layer of clingfilm. Put the salmon slices on top in a single layer, then lay another layer of clingfilm over the top. Using a rolling pin, flatten the salmon so it becomes uniform in thickness. Remove the clingfilm, cut the salmon into strips and use to wrap each spear, leaving the top sticking out, and a few centimetres showing at the base – This was far too complicated and I can’t separate clingfilm with my hands, so I just separaed the smoked salmon and cut it into strips. It wasn’t too difficult and I’ll do it better next time.
4. Using the smallest possible pan, just cover the eggs in cold water, and cover the pan. Bring to the boil quickly, over a high heat. Once boiling, remove from heat and leave to stand, still covered, for 6 minutes – I’d never have thought of boiling eggs in this way.
5.  After 6 minutes, remove the eggs from the pan and place them in egg cups. Crack the top of each egg with a spoon and remove the top. To serve, dip the salmon-wrapped asparagus spears into the soft egg yolk.

I actually opened the eggs as I always have by battering them with the bowl of a teaspoon and then peeling off the shell with the handle of the spoon.

I also put a hole in the bottom of the shell, so that witches can’t use them to sail away on the sea.

They were very good and a wonderful combination of three of my favourite foods; asparagus, eggs and smoked salmon.

They’re gluten-free too!

It gave me a lot of satisfaction to do this recipe.  I also learned several simple techniques, that work well.

So perhaps the success of his cooking is lots of simple ideas, brilliantly executed.

May 15, 2011 - Posted by AnonW | Food | Coeliac/Gluten-Free, Eggs, Waitrose