Tapas 1737: Duo of Asparagus Tips with Vinaigrette and Hollandaise Sauce 2010-11

This is one of those recipes that chefs seem to love because they use parts of a product that are normally thrown away. In this case the usually bitter white pith of lemons.

So we start out by peeling the lemons (save for another purpose), quartering each one, and slicing off the pith.

The pith pieces are then blanched in three changes of boiling water then boiled another 25 minutes in lightly sweetened water.

I sliced up 150 grams of the pith and set it in some 100% simple syrup to macerate overnight (of course this takes more than one day to prepare). I also whipped up a batch of sodium alginate for the spherical-I gnocchi.

The next day...

Macerated lemon pith, lemon zest, cream, lemon juice, sugar water, and butter get whizzed in the Thermomix at 80° C. I let the mixture cool and added calcium gluconolactate to 200 grams of the pith puree.

I piped the gnocchi into the alginate and let them cook for half a minute.

You have to cut them into asparagus tip size pieces in the alginate bath - otherwise they'll just ooze out. Then I popped 'em into a Tupperware with corn oil to cover.

The actual cooking is trivial:

• Boil 16 of the asparagus tips for 2 minutes, Shock, Store in reserved cooking water
• Blanch 14 tips, Shock, Store in ice water

Now for the sauces...

Butter, water, sucrose ester, and xanthan make the butter sauce. The sucrose ester is an emulsifier that holds the butter and water together.

I made the cooked egg yolk in my immersion bath set to 53° C. The egg sabayon is just egg yolk whipped with a little hot water and salt.

Assembly:

Eight tips on the left

Top with 4 lemon pith gnocchi.

7 tips on the right

Top with a spoonful of olive oil caviar

Sauces on.

How it tastes: It would be surprisingly rich if you didn't know how much butter and egg is in it. No, there isn't actually any Hollandaise in this dish, although there sort of is the idea of it in the lemony gnocchi and the two buttery sauces. The lemon pith gnocchi could easily garnish a dessert.

Equipment and Ingredients

The Books: El Bulli 2005-2011 - Yes, freakin' expensive. Check with your local library - they may well be "in the system" and available to be reserved.

Thermomix

A scale that measures in grams

Sodium Alginate
Calcium Gluconolactate
Sucrose Esters