Spring salad with asparagus, San Daniele, poached farm egg and herbs

Serves 4

For the salad:

Handful of thin, white asparagus, peeled

Handful of thin, green asparagus, peeled

4 pieces of prosciutto di San Daniele, thinly sliced 

4 farm eggs, soft boiled (*see instructions below for Julia’s Oeufs Mollets)

Handful of garden radishes, sliced in half lengthwise

Fresh chervil leaves

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

For the vinaigrette:

1 tablespoon aged balsamic vinegar

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

To make the salad, hold the asparagus spear and bend it to break off the less tender bottom end. Trim all of the asparagus to the same length and peel the stalks with a vegetable peeler.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Prepare an ice bath. Line a platter with paper towels and set aside. Blanch the asparagus in batches in the boiling water until crisp-tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to the ice water bath to stop cooking, and drain on paper towels.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a simmer. Lower the eggs into the simmering water for about 30 seconds, just to reheat. Remove the eggs with a slotted spoon and blot the bottoms with paper towels.

In a small bowl, add the vinegar and olive oil and stir gently to form a broken vinaigrette. Add the salt and pepper to taste.

Arrange the asparagus, prosciutto and radishes on the plate. Place the egg on top. Using a spoon, gently separate the egg in two to allow the soft yolk to pool. Drizzle the salad with the vinaigrette and sprinkle with fleur de sel, pepper and chervil.

*Julia’s Oeufs Mollets

This is a boiled egg with a set white and a soft yolk which can be peeled and substituted for poached eggs.

For the eggs:

2 quarts boiling water

4 eggs with uncracked shells, at room temperature

Lower the eggs into the boiling water and boil slowly for six minutes. As soon as the time is up, drain off the boiling water and run cold water into the pan for a minute to set the white, and to cool the eggs enough to remove the shells. Tap gently on a hard surface to break the shells, peel carefully under a stream of water. Just before serving, warm for a minute in a bowl of hot water.