How to Make Asparagus like Chris Cosentino
I didn’t think I would actually make this dish, then I came across some cheap caviar and said why not. I thought my first caviar dish was going to be Oysters and Pearls from the French Laundry, but I am not ready for that.
I really like asparagus, and am always looking for more ways to improve on that technique so I was eager to do this dish. Apparently I have been over cooking my asparagus for a long time now, I was shocked at how quickly we cook them for in this recipe.
Cookbook – Beginnings – How I Like to Start a Meal
Ingredients –
Creme fraiche dressing –
- Creme fraiche – 2 tbsp
- Olive oil – 1 tsp
- Lemon zest from 1/4 lemon
- Salt
- Pepper
- Minced chives – 2 tsp
- Fingerling potatoes – 8-12
- Jumbo asparagus
- Olive oil – 2 tbsp
- Fresh lemon juice – 1 tsp
- Salt
- Pepper
- Caviar
Step 1 – Make the Dressing
In a bowl, mix together the creme fraiche, oil, lemon zest, salt, and chive, refrigerate.
Step 2 – Cook the Potatoes
In a sauce pan, cover the potatoes with salted water and bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer. Cook until just tender when pierced by a knife, about 10 minutes. Drain, let cool until they can be handled, then peel. I actually peeled mine before since they were starting to sprout and wanted to make sure each one was still fine time eat.
Step 3 – Asparagus and Finish
Snap off the base of each asparagus, trim the ends to be even. It says to use a vegetable peeler in the book, but I ended up using a knife to make asparagus ribbons. I first cut the asparagus in half, then when laying flat, cut the top half long ways, so you get about 4 ribbons per asparagus. Do this on about 6 asparagus, leave the other 10 unpeeled.
In a large sauce pan about half full of salted water to a boil. Add the spear and slowly count to 15, immediately remove and place on a rimmed baking sheet to cool, do not immerse in cold water. Apparently I have been over cooking asparagus my entire life.
Transfer cooled asparagus to a shallow bowl, dress with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and arrange on a platter. In a different bowl, season potatoes with salt and pepper then toss in the creme fraiche dressing. Scatter the potatoes over the platter and drizzle any remaining dressing over the top. Top with small piles of caviar, serve right away.
Ok, for the rating –
- Difficulty of ingredients to find – 4/5 stars – might need a special trip for the caviar
- Perceived difficulty going into recipe – 2/5 stars – how hard can asparagus be?
- Difficulty after cooking recipe – 3/5 stars – the vegetable peeler did not work great, so I used a knife to hand cut the ribbons when requires a little knife skills.
- Time taken – 2/5 stars – less than an hour total
- Taste – 3.25/5 stars – It was a good dish but not a stand out. The I could eat a ton of the creme fraiche dressing though, plan on making that again.
- Would I make again? – 3/5 stars – Maybe for a certain occasion
