Spring Vegetables, Poached Quail Egg, Rhubarb Vinaigrette

I know of no better way to honor spring than a gentle saute in butter of spring vegetables. This is my interpretation. It makes an excellent first course.

This dish is spring vegetables, sauteed in butter, plated in a tight mound, adorned by a poached quail egg and some crunchy pea greens, and decorated with a rhubarb vinaigrette. For the spring vegetables, I selected spring onion, asparagus, and fresh green peas, but you should go with whatever is freshest at the market, whatever screams "spring" loudest on your tongue. Morel mushrooms are a great addition. Individually, the inputs to this dish are great, but together they soar. Fresh vegetables, a perfectly-poached quail egg, the tart brightness of the rhubarb: Hello, spring!

Here I call for "asparagus tips"—just the flowering end of the shoot. This is to capture the delicate essence of the plant. I'd suggest going for just the tips if you can, although you can slip in a few upper, tender pieces of the stalk if you want. Save the rest of the shoot for another dish, such as a risotto or cold salad.

Photo of spring onions by Flickr user Antoaneta used under Creative Commons license by-2.0

By "spring onion" I mean a green onion that has a partially-developed bulb. I don't mean scallions or shallots or salad onions or whatever else crazy other people call the things. Spring onions are young onions, generally picked in early spring, that have not been dried and converted to storage onions. Spring onions taste like strong scallions, with a slight sweetness and delicateness that suggests minimal cooking—they are wonderful briefly sauteed in butter with other spring vegetables. They have the texture of a moist storage onion. Unlike storage onions, spring onions won't last months in your cellar. Look for firm, crisp-looking specimens with healthy greens and no moist spots. Use within 1-2 days.

For this dish, you need to make the rhubarb vinaigrette into a sufficiently thick emulsion that it can stand up on the plate (we do not dress the spring vegetables in the vinaigrette, but artfully decorate the plate and allow the enjoyer to dab each fork full into the emulsion). You may need to modify my recipe in two ways. First, if possible, prepare the vinaigrette in a blender. You will make a perfect emulsion every time. Second, you may need more grape seed oil than indicated. Just continue adding oil, a little at a time, until the emulsion can coat the back of a spoon.

Spring on a plate

Makes 4 servings.

4 poached quail eggs (recipe)
about 1 cup barely-packed pea shoots
about 1/2 cup rhubarb vinaigrette (recipe)
about 1 cup fresh green peas
about 1 and 1/4 cups asparagus tips
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 medium spring onions, sliced into quarters
sea salt, to taste
freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
fleur de sel, to garnish

Poach the quail eggs per that recipe. Plunge into an ice bath. Once cool, drain. Using kitchen shears, trim any unsightly tails off the poached egg. Set aside.

In a small mixing bowl, combine the peashoots and enough rhubarb vinaigrette to barely coat. Toss. Set aside.

Bring a large stockpot of heavily-salted water to boil. Add the green peas and asparagus tips. Once the water returns to a boil, lower heat to a simmer. Blanch for 60 seconds. Drain. Pat dry.

Sauteing the spring onion, green peas, and asparagus tips

Meanwhile, heat a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the butter. Once melted and bubbling, add the spring onion and the drained green peas and asparagus. Saute, stirring occasionally, until warmed through and coated in butter, about 2 minutes. Season with sea salt and black pepper to taste.

Plating the spring vegetables into a mound using a pastry ring

To plate, place a small dollop of rhubarb vinaigrette in the center of a large, white plate. Place a round pastry ring that is about 3" wide and at least 3" tall in the center of the plate. Spoon the sauteed spring vegetables into the ring until you have a mound about 2" tall. Place a small dollop of rhubarb vinaigrette on top. Place a small bunch of the dressed pea shoots on one side of the top of the spring vegetables. Place a quail egg in the center of the spring vegetables. Jiggle the pastry ring to make sure the vegetables are stable. Slowly remove the pastry ring. Some of the peas might roll out (remove them from the plate) but the vegetable "mound" should stay intact. Using a teaspoon, place two dollops of rhubarb vinaigrette on opposite ends of the plate. Using a small offset spatula, swirl the vinaigrette across the plate. Garnish the mound with fleur de sel.

Plated, garnished, and ready to serve

Serve. Pairs well with a white wine of the Sauvignon blanc grape from the Sancerre AOC in the Loire Valley, France.