Читать книгу Simple Beginnings: Beading - Aiden Byrne - Страница 25

SERVES 4

4 large duck eggs (or hens’ eggs if you prefer)

12 spears of English jumbo asparagus

4 very thin slices of strong smoked pancetta

50 g unsalted butter

½ bunch of chervil, chopped

4 tablespoons Hellman’s mayonnaise

4 slices of smoked bacon

olive oil

lemon juice

salt

toasted bread, to serve

STEAM THE DUCK EGGS for 7 minutes (hens’ eggs for 6 minutes) in a steamer that is set as high as possible to give evenly cooked yolks. Plunge the cooked eggs into iced water and leave them to chill. Peel away the shell and keep in the refrigerator.

DIVIDE UP THE ASPARAGUS: you will need four tips for pan-frying, four for slicing and four for the purée for the mayonnaise. Trim the leaves away from the asparagus that will be pan-fried, starting from the bottom. The base of the spear is too tough to eat, so hold the very base and the centre in both hands and bend it until it snaps. Discard the lower section. Plunge the four spears into a large pan of boiling salted water for 1–2 minutes or until the asparagus is slightly undercooked. Transfer to iced water and allow to cool, them dry on kitchen paper and wrap each spear in a slice of smoked bacon. Set to one side.

TRIM A FURTHER FOUR SPEARS. Slice the asparagus lengthways on a mandolin, starting from the base. Use only perfect slices. You will need four slices per portion. Blanch in boiling salted water for a couple of seconds, then plunge into iced water and dry on kitchen paper.

CHOP THE REMAINING asparagus and any discarded slices. In a warm covered pan sweat the asparagus in 25 g butter until soft (this should take 3–4 minutes). Add a pinch of salt and the chopped chervil and cook for a further minute. Blend until smooth then pass through a fine sieve. Cool immediately in a bowl over iced water, then leave in the refrigerator for a couple of hours until the mixture stiffens. Fold in the mayonnaise, then leave to sit in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

COOK THE BACON-WRAPPED asparagus in a frying pan with the remaining butter until golden brown. Keep warm.

TO SERVE, warm the eggs in a steamer for a couple of minutes. Dress the asparagus slices with a dash of olive oil, some lemon juice and salt and arrange them in four bowls. Place a spoon of mayonnaise into each bowl, cut the top of the eggs and place an egg in the centre of the mayonnaise. Arrange the pan-fried asparagus on the side with a small piece of toast to dip into your egg.

In the restaurant we use a gas canister to create an asparagus foam – simply put the mayonnaise mixture into a gas canister and charge with two cartridges. Shake well and leave in the refrigerator for about 2 hours. When ready to serve, pipe some mayonnaise from the canister into each bowl.