Asparagus Mimosa! Asparagus spears, boiled until crisp tender, served with grated boiled eggs and a caper vinaigrette.
It’s asparagus season! Here is a beautiful and classic way to serve them—quickly cooked in simmering water, drained, and sprinkled with a tangy caper vinaigrette and a grated hard boiled egg.
By the way, the grated egg served over asparagus like this is often referred to as “mimosa” because it resembles bright yellow mimosa flowers.
This recipe serves four, but you could easily double, triple, or quadruple the recipe. With more asparagus you could arrange them in a circle on a large platter for a dramatic presentation.
Asparagus Mimosa with Hard Boiled Eggs and Capers Recipe
- Prep time: 15 minutes
- Cook time: 10 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4
Caper vinaigrette makes enough dressing for a double recipe of asparagus.
Ingredients
- 1 pound asparagus
- Salt
- 1 hard boiled egg, peeled
Caper vinaigrette:
- 1 tablespoon minced shallots
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Pinch freshly ground black pepper
- 1 Tbsp chopped capers
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Method
1 Prep the asparagus: Break off the tough woody ends of the asparagus. If the asparagus are thick, use a vegetable peeler to peel off the skin of the bottom 1 to 2 inches of the asparagus.
2 Prepare a bowl filled with ice water.
3 Simmer the asparagus: Add enough water to cover the bottom of a wide sauté pan by about an inch and a half deep. Add a teaspoon of salt to the water. Bring the water to a simmer. Add the asparagus to the water.
Return to a simmer and cook uncovered for 2 to 5 minutes, depending on how thick they are. Remove from heat and drain when they are just cooked through, but are still a little firm.
4 Shock the asparagus in ice water: Place the asparagus in the ice water to shock them and keep them from cooking further. Asparagus will start to turn olive green if they cook too long, so you want to stop the cooking as soon as you take them out of the boiling water.
5 Make the vinaigrette: In a medium bowl, whisk together the shallots, mustard, vinegar, salt, black pepper, capers. Whisk in the olive oil.
6 Grate the egg: Using a box grater, grate the hard boiled egg.
7 Drizzle asparagus with vinaigrette, sprinkle with eggs: Place the asparagus in a serving dish. When you are ready to serve, drizzle with vinaigrette and sprinkle with the sieved eggs.
