What’s the surprise, you ask? The Easter surprise is that I’m celebrating Easter with Matt and his family and, surprise!, I’m not Christian. Worry not, they’re fully aware of this fact, but are kind enough to include this Pagan in their family traditions anyway.
Naturally, I am skipping the church service, but will be there for the meal with a lovely side dish in hand. When I first began thinking of Easter, my mind jumped immediately to Spring despite the fact that it remains 35-45 degrees outside. As I thought of Spring, I thought of asparagus.
Few things remind me of Spring more than the lovely snap and tender flavor of those verdant stalks. From there the ideas just flowed. I wanted to make an asparagus salad, but the problem I have with asparagus salads sometimes is that they are too singularly noted, too “green” tasting and insufficiently complex.
So I sought advice from my book, Culinary Artistry by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page. Through interviews with some of the most prominent chefs such as Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Alice Waters, the book speaks at length about dish composition and flavor pairings. I came up with a salad of boiled asparagus with roasted wild mushrooms sprinkled with thyme and a tarragon, roasted garlic vinaigrette.
All afternoon I’ve been debating whether I should add anchovies to the dressing or if I should add hard boiled eggs. Both of these are flavors that combine clasically with some central element of the dish (hard boiled eggs and asparagus, anchovies and asparagus and anchovies and garlic). I don’t want to fall victim to overwhelming the already strong flavors of the asparagus, thyme, and tarragon.
Well, we’ll see. I’m sure the Easter bunny will inspire me at the eleventh hour.
AfterTaste (by Sherry) 