Grilled asparagus with gribiche dressing

 

The Midtown Farmers Market reopened last weekend, and of course I had to buy more than one bunch of asparagus to spread the love around among my old favorite, and soon-to-become favorite vendors. Perfect weather for opening day for a change.

Grilled asparagus with gribiche dressing

Adapted from Bon Appetit, April 2017

Ingredients

1 bunch asparagus, tough ends snapped off

Olive oil, salt and pepper

6 cornichons, chopped

1/3 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon grainy Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon small capers, drained

3 hard-cooked eggs

2 tablespoons chopped tarragon or parsley

Method

Preheat grill. Place asparagus spears on a long piece of tin foil. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Wrap up to seal. Grill about 10 to 12 minutes or until tender crisp.

Combine cornichons, 1/3 cup olive oil, vinegar, mustard and capers. Stir briskly to emulsify. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Grate one hard-cooked egg into mixture. Coarsely chop the remaining two eggs and add to mixture. Stir in herbs.

If making in advance and refrigerating the mixture, bring it to room temperature before serving.

Rating: A very nice combo pack of flavors, and very versatile and repeatable. If you're planning to use this on something that calls for a finer texture, go ahead and grate all of the hard cooked eggs. But the larger chunks were nice in this application. Not likely to use it on tongue, which is apparently a common use for this sauce in France.