Recipes
White asparagus, hens’ eggs, olives
25 minutes, plus dehydrating overnight Preparation time
40 minutes Cooking time
4 servings Serves
Ingredients
100 g kalamata olives, pitted
4 large hen eggs, 60-70g each
500 g thick white asparagus, peeled
1 tablespoon mild olive oil
10 ml sherry vinegar
50 ml sparkling water
Large pinch salt flakes
To Serve
Small sour dough loaf
½ cup olive oil
Watercress to garnish
Miele Accessories
Method
- Place olives on the universal tray and place into the combi steam pro oven on shelf position 2.
- Select Fan Plus at 90°C for 12 hours. Alternatively, select Drying function at 90°C if your oven has special applications. Set aside to cool completely. The olives should be very firm.
- Take each stem of asparagus and bend them until they snap. Use the tougher bottom half for the puree and the tops as garnish, depending on the timing of the season will depend on where the stem snaps. Reserve 12 tips from the asparagus approximately 8cm long for serving. Roughly chop the remaining asparagus.
- Place the chopped asparagus in a perforated steam tray; place the tips in another perforated tray. Steam both parts of the asparagus at 100°C for 6 minutes.
- Set the tips aside for serving. Blend chopped asparagus with the oil, vinegar, sparkling water and a good pinch of salt flakes. Taste and add more salt if necessary.
- Place puree in a bowl and keep warm.
- Place eggs in a perforated steam tray. Steam at 65°C for 17 minutes.
- Remove crusts completely and cut the bread into 5 cm slices.
- Heat a frypan on medium heat, Induction setting 6, add the oil to the warm pan.
- Add the bread to the pan and brown on all sides, turning. This may take around 15 minutes.
- Set the bread aside to cool before tearing into chunks for serving.
To Serve
- Using warm plates, spoon 2 tablespoons of warm asparagus puree into the centre of each plate.
- Place 3 asparagus spears to the right.
- Crack each egg into a saucer, remove the white and discard. Carefully lift the yolk onto the puree.
- Using a microplane finely grate the dehydrated olives over the egg yolks and garnish with a small sprig of watercress and a drizzle of olive oil.
Note
- When pureeing the asparagus, 50 g of butter could be added for extra richness and flavour.
- White asparagus should be as thick as your thumb. If white asparagus are not available, you can use another variety of asparagus, however you’ll need to reduce the cooking time to 1-2 minutes depending on the thickness.
- If a more rustic look is desired, you can use your hands to crumble the dehydrated olives to garnish.
Applicance Functions
Shannon Bennett
Shannon Bennett is a Melbourne-born chef, restaurateur, television personality and cookbook author. Best known as the founder and former owner of Vue de monde (Vue Group), which he sold in 2017, Bennett now resides in Byron Bay where he founded The Belongil — a multi-venue dining destination comprising Belongil Bistro, fine dining restaurant Feu, The Belongil Kiosk, and the hidden members’ bar Blind Tiger. Feu was recognised in Condé Nast’s Hot 50 as one of the world’s top new restaurants. Beyond hospitality, Bennett is passionate about the intersection of technology and dining, and has founded several successful ventures including Culinary Wonderland and OntheMonee.