Thomas Keller’s Grilled Asparagus with Prosciutto and Poached Eggs

I recently won something very, very awesome. I’m not usually one to win things. I think I’ve won maybe one or two things in my life, and one of those winnings was for a pair of Boston tickets from a radio station when I was a teenager. Now, if you’re into Boston, then go ahead and do your thing. But for me, let’s just say it wasn’t exactly my most ideal prize.

No, this prize was far greater. Thanks to Krysta at the hilarious and insightful blog Evil Chef Mom (with a little help from Saint Tigerlily), I won a copy of Thomas Keller’s book ad hoc at home. I knew little about Thomas Keller at the time, but have since been very impressed both with his recipes as well as his whole attitude towards food.

This is one of those books that I knew, very shortly after opening it, that it was going to make me a better cook. No doubts about it.

So I started perusing the book and figuring out some options for an upcoming dinner with some friends. The grilled asparagus looked delicious and I had just recently had some delivered from my CSA – so I decided on that. Plus – I had never poached an egg before – and I’m always up for learning something new.

Never mind the fact that it’s to be served with people over and that before this day I didn’t even have a clue how to poach an egg. The best dishes are rarely made by cautious cooks. They’re probably not often made on the first try, either, but I prefer to be romantic about it. Yes, this does occasionally lead to disaster. So be it.

You can see here what the intended dish should look like on it’s outcome. For a first effort, I came close anyway.

Keller recommends peeling your asparagus stalks before cooking them to attain an even tenderness throughout. While I have no doubt this is a great technique that helps set his dish apart from others, I was putting this dish together while company was already over and I just didn’t have the time for such dedication. Next time, Keller. I’ll get you next time.

Ingredients…

- 1 or 2 bunches of asparagus
- 4 eggs
- prosciutto
- croutons

I haven’t managed to find a good local source for prosciutto yet, but I haven’t given up hope. I can get pretty much any other pork product from nearby, but this one escapes me. So, Whole Foods it is. Everything else was local care of my Olin Fox Farms CSA and a Manassas bakery.

So yeah, if you’ve got the time for it, start off by peeling the skin off the asparagus with a vegetable peeler and set it all aside.

Next, we’re going to poach the eggs. This can be done for some time before serving, as you set them in an ice bath for them to take shape and you can leave them in there, or in the fridge, and they’ll be fine.

Prepare a bowl full of ice and ice water. Set aside.

In another pot, bring some water up to a boil. Make sure it is enough water so that when you drop the egg into it, it will be completely submerged.

Crack an egg into a bowl, do not mix up the yolk.

When you are ready, take a wooden spoon and gently swirly the boiling water along the outside of the pot so there is a circular motion to the water. Then, while the water is still boiling and turning, drop the entirety of the egg (not the shell, of course) into the middle of the pot.

Pick the spoon back up and keep gently stirring around the outside of the pot. You will start to see the egg poaching and taking shape in the center of the pot. This was really cool and exciting to do, but that could just be the food nerd in me talking. I did get some “oohs” and “aahs” from the crowd, though.

It’s like a swirling vortex of yum.

Once it looks like the egg has got a substantial shape to it and the white has fully cooked around the yolk, get a slotted spoon and take it out of the boiling water and submerge it in the ice bath.

Once the eggs have sat in the ice bath for a little while, you can pull them out and cut off any wispy strands of cooked egg white to give them a little bit more of a pleasing aesthetic. Other than that though, they are ready to serve.

The rest is easy.

For croutons, take a loaf of your favorite bread and break it up into little bite size pieces. Drip some olive oil over top of it, and toast it in the oven on a baking sheet at 350 for about 5-7 minutes. Done.

Next, bring the grill up to medium heat and drizzle some olive oil on the asparagus.

Lay them on the grill, not directly over flame, and let cook for about 3 minutes on each side.

Remove from grill, and you are ready to plate your dish.

A little messy, sure, but hey – you can at least see the resemblance to Keller’s picture, right?

This was a delicious side dish. I have to admit I was a little worried about the eggs because I’m not usually one to have eggs with anything other than breakfast, but they were perfect along with the prosciutto and asparagus. This recipe has certainly opened my mind to a lot more possibilities.

I’ll leave you here with a brief excerpt from the book, as I suspect this won’t be the last Keller recipe you see on my blog…

The pace of life today is so quick, and we often feel so rushed and disconnected from one another, as well as from the sources of our food, that it’s easy to forget how powerful the ritual of eating together can be. To be able to sit around the table, passing food, sharing stories of the day, with the sense that for an hour or so, the outside world can be set aside, is a gift to embrace. Some days life is sweet, other days life can be hard, but the one thing we can always strive to do, is to partake of the comfort and pleasure of sharing a meal with those we hold dear.

When we eat together, when we set out to do so deliberately, life is better, no matter your circumstances. Whether it’s a sad or difficult time, whether it’s an ordinary-seeming day, or whether it’s a time of celebration, our lives are enriched when we share meals together.

I love this. He does, have a gift, for the commas though, doesn’t, he?

When Amanda and I stopped eating every meal at the coffee table in front of the TV and started actually having some together at the dining table it made such a huge difference in our general lifestyle – particularly when it came to things like stress levels.

What does a shared meal mean to you? Do you get to have them as often as you’d like?

Recipes | RSS 2.0 | Respond | Trackback |