Spring wedge salad with buttermilk dressing
My grandmother, in the heat of the summer, would serve a simple salad of fresh greens dressed in buttermilk with salt and pepper and maybe some chives. This salad uses that childhood memory as the inspiration to make a wedge salad that's a bit more “springy.”
Ingredients
Buttermilk dressing
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1½ tablespoons chives, thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon parsley, finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons dill, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- Pinch salt and pepper
Cured egg yolk
- 2 eggs yolks
- 1½ to 2 cups Kosher salt
Crispy shallot rings
- 2 to 3 small shallots
- ¼ cup flour, all-purpose or flour of your choice
- 2 tablespoons buttermilk
- Cooking oil
Salad
- 2 heads butter lettuce
- 8-12 spears of asparagus (depending on length)
- 16 snap peas, deveined
- 4 radishes
Instructions
Buttermilk dressing
- In a small bowl or jar, mix all the ingredients together. Reserve
Cured egg yolk
- Into a clean, flat bottomed glass container, place half of the salt. Make two small wells in the salt large enough to hold each yolk.
- Crack the eggs and separate the whites from the yolks, saving the whites for another recipe. Place each yolk into a well and cover them with the remainder of the salt. Place a lid on the container and refrigerate for 3 days. Check them after 2 days, they may need a bit more salt if they have become exposed.
- After 3 days, remove the yolks from the salt (they’ll probably be a little jammy still). Place them on a wire rack and put them into the oven on your lowest heat setting for about an hour. Take them out of the oven and let them cool. Brush off any excess salt. Reserve. The cured yolks can be kept in a clean container in the refrigerator for several months.
Crispy shallot rings
- Cut both ends from the shallots and remove the skin. Cut each shallot into thin rings. Separate into individual rings as best you can. Place the rings into a small mixing bowl and add a small amount of buttermilk, enough to coat the rings.
- Add enough cooking oil to a small pot so that you have at least an inch of oil. Over medium heat, bring the oil up to between 325℉ to 350℉.
- Add a couple of spoonfuls of flour to the moistened shallots and toss well. Drop the battered shallots into the hot oil. Cook them is small batches so the shallots aren’t crowded while cooking.
- Once the cooked onions are golden, remove them from the oil and lay them on a paper towel to remove the excess oil. Season with salt. Reserve.
Salad
- Bring a small pot of salted water to a boil. Fill a small bowl with water and a couple ice cubes.
- Remove the bottom, woody end from the asparagus spears. Cut the remaining spears into two or three pieces (the pieces should be of similar size as the peas.) Drop the asparagus pieces and the snap peas into the water for no more than 30 seconds. Remove them and drop them into the ice water. Once chilled, remove them place them onto a towel to remove excess water. Reserve.
- Wash and trim the ends of the radishes. Cut each into round slices. Reserve.
- Wash and dry the butter lettuce and remove several outside layers (keep these leaves for another salad later). Trim down the exposed stem and cut each head into quarters.
- To build the salads, place 2 wedges of butter lettuce onto each plate. Add the radishes, snap peas and asparagus. Spoon as much of the buttermilk dressing as you like over the salad. Garnish with crispy shallots and grate about half a cured yolk over each salad.
