This has been one of my favorite salads lately. Sort of a version of Niçoise salad with smoked trout instead of tuna and poached eggs instead of boiled ones. My greens choice for this salad is a mix of frisee (I love ’em bitter!) and Asian greens mix (not to be confused with Asian salad mix!) which includes mizuna, pak choi, baby tat soi and other fancy and very tasty herbs. If you cannot find Asian mix in stores, go for Spring Salad Mix or something like it.
As for the trout, you can smoke it yourself or buy it in a store. Trader Joe’s carries quite delicious and inexpensive smoked trout. If you want to smoke trout yourself and are a happy owner of a Green egg grill, follow the instructions given here for salmon. The only difference with trout would be that you would need much less salt and shorter time to cure it in the fridge since trout fillets are much smaller and thinner than salmon. For the same reason, the cooking time will be shorter too. Shoot for 45-50 min.
For the salad, you will need:
- Skinless and deboned smoked trout fillet, torn or cut into bite size pieces, about ½ fillet per person
- Potatoes, fingerling, baby Yukon gold or Dutch, about 2-3 per person
- Asparagus, about 2-3 per person (can be substituted with green beans or young peas in pods)
- Poached eggs, 1 per serving (follow the recipe here)
- Garlicky vinaigrette (recipe follows), about 2 tsp per serving
Start with making a vinaigrette dressing.
You will need:
- 3 Tbsp white balsamic vinegar or champagne vinegar
- 2.5-3 Tbsp creamy Dijon mustard
- ½ cup olive oil
- ¼-1/3 cup canola or grape seed oil
- 2 large garlic cloves
- ½ tsp honey
- Salt and black pepper, to taste
With a medium sized whisk, stir together Dijon, garlic, honey and vinegar. Slowly add oils, while energetically whisking the mixture. A bit of work out never hurts, right?
When the emulsion forms and all the oil has been added, stir in salt and black pepper.
= This recipe yields lots of vinaigrette and most likely you will not use it all at once. Unless, of course, you feed a large crowd. Store the vinaigrette in the fridge and use within 2 weeks. It’s always nice to have a ready salad dressing. Just bring it to room temperature before using and stir well with a whisk. =
Prepare the rest of the ingredients. Cut the potatoes into a bite size pieces and simmer until tender, but not mushy. Drain and mix with a teaspoon of the vinaigrette dressing. Take more vinaigrette if you make more than one serving of the salad.
To prep asparagus, bend each asparagus stalk with your hands closer to its bottom end. The tough part will break off naturally at the right point. Discard the tough ends and blanch asparagus stalks in boiling water for about a minute or a bit less. Don’t overcook! It should stay slightly crunchy. Immediately transfer the asparagus to ice cold water to stop the carry over cooking. Let cool down completely, take out and pat dry with paper towels. Cut on a bias into about 1-1.5 inch pieces and toss with a teaspoon of the vinaigrette.
Poach eggs.
To combine the salad: Toss the greens with some vinaigrette and arrange on a serving plate. Scatter the potatoes, asparagus, and smoked trout pieces on top of the greens and place a warm poached egg in the center.
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