Green Spears
This dish is a combination of simple, fresh ingredients. It has a light fragrant taste, but also a salty kick!
Ingredients
Grilled asparagus
Baby asparagus (6 per person)
Olive oil
Salt
Lemon oil
1 Lemon’s rind
60g Olive oil
60g Neutral oil
Cured egg yolk
4-6 Egg yolk
(⅔ per person)
250g cooking salt
250g granulated sugar
Whipped ricotta
1 cup (240mL) buttermilk
1L milk
½ cup heavy cream
1 tbsp salt
Recipe
Make the cured egg yolk. Mix the salt and sugar together. Pour half the mixture into a Tupperware, make 4-6 diverts with a spoon in the mixture.
Put the egg yolks in the diverts and pour over the rest of the mixture to cover the yolks.
Refrigerate for 2 days then flip the egg yolks over, re-cover and refrigerate for another 2 days.
Wash the egg yolks under a light stream of water, rub lightly to remove the membrane from the outside then pat dry on some kitchen paper.
Dehydrate the egg yolks in a dehydrator at 60 - 70C for 6 - 10 hours. Then place back in the fridge for up to a month.
Make the whipped ricotta. Pour the buttermilk, cream and milk into a pot over a medium heat. Stir once in a while to stop the mixture from burning on the bottom. When the mixture begins to simmer (~20 mins), the curds will begin to split.
Meanwhile, put some cheesecloth over a sieve, over a bowl.
Gently stir occasionally for 30 - 45 minutes until the liquid looks matte and the curds are floating at the top.
Turn the heat off, then pour the mixture over the sieve. Allow the curds to cool for about 30 minutes to an hour whilst submerged.
After, allow the curds to strain for 4 - 6 hours.
Add ⅓ of the ricotta to a food processor with 1.5 tbsp of whey and blend. Then mix the blended mixture through the ricotta and store in the fridge. (Can be kept for 2-3 days).
Make the lemon oil.
For the grilled asparagus, heat a cast iron griddle on high heat.
drizzle olive oil and sprinkle salt over the asparagus on a large plate. Rub the asparagus round until lightly coated.
Grill on medium high until charred spots emerge, then flipped, cook until just tender.
Prepare the dish, grate the egg yolks with a microplane and set aside.
Put 6 asparagus per plate. Quenelle a dessert spoon of the whipped ricotta and put on the side. Drizzle the plate with lemon oil and scoop 1 ½ spoons of the cured egg yolk onto the asparagus.