Gjelina's Asparagus w/ Gribiche & Bottarga

More wonderful vegetable recipes from the gorgeous book by the restaurant with the same name "GJELINA".
How do you pronounce it anyway? JeLINA? or GeLINA?

Here you make a gribiche sauce, which is like the eggsalad of your dreams.........mustard, capers, vinegar, shallots, herbs and chopped eggs, poured over grilled spring asparagus spears w/ toasted garlic breadcrumbs and to gild the lily, some shaved bottarga.

What is bottarga? you ask.
It is mullet roe from Sardinia.
It is super salty, super fishy, it gives super umami to anything, and it is super expensive!

You don't have to buy it for this dish, you can go without. The crumbs and gribiche are enough, but if you happen to have this bottarga thing in the back of your fridge drawer that lasts for years (which I do!!), then by all means, grate away.

There is a recipe to make the garlic croutons in the book, but instead of going thru the whole production.....just toast up some good quality bread that has been brushed w/ garlic powder and olive oil, as if making crostini. I crush the toasts with a rolling pin to make breadcrumbs......you can also crumble up some stale bread in a frying pan with a little olive oil and dried herbs to make toasted breadcrumbs too......you could also buy commercially made dried seasoned breadcrumbs.....but why would you do that????

Gjelina likes you to blanch veggies before grilling them. I saved a step and just roasted my spears in the oven for the same effect.

This is now my favorite way to serve asparagus.

Asparagus w/ Gribiche Sauce & Shaved Bottarga (adapted from Gjelina): Serves 2-4

bunch of asparagus (fat ones preferred)
2 hard boiled eggs
1 Tbsp drained capers
1 small shallot, chopped fine
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp white wine vinegar
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp fresh dill
1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
black pepper
2 garlic croutons, smashed (to make fine breadcrumbs)
shaved bottarga (mullet roe) for the top

I like to trim my asparagus spears of all woody thorns. It makes them less stringy and make a prettier presentation. Personal preference.

Roast or grill or steam your spears how you like them. I roasted mine w/ olive oil and kosher salt in a 400F oven for 15 minutes.

Lay the asparagus on a platter, (or in my case, a very well used baking sheet!).

Mix the capers, shallot, mustard, vinegar, lemon juice, herbs and oil in a bowl. Season w/ black pepper.

Boil your eggs about 8-9 minutes, then immediately peel under WARM running water (this is MY trick to perfect peeled eggs).

Chop the 2 warm eggs and add to the bowl w/ the caper shallot sauce. This is your gribiche!

Top the cooked asparagus w/ the gribiche, then the toasted garlic breadcrumbs, then shave some of that bottarga on top.

I ate the entire tray (so much for 2-4 servings).

It was so good.