Flower Power
Chef Gaspard Toulouppe | Bleu Provence
Vegetable and flower salad, including eggplant caviar, red onions, Chioggia beets, kumquats, Key limes, radishes, red and white endives, carrots and a Parmesan crisp garnish.
Photography by Vanessa Rogers
Chilled Vegetable Salad With Wild Honey Key Lime Dressing and Eggplant Caviar
Eggplant Caviar
Ingredients:
- 2 Eggplants
- 10 chives
- 4 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 lemons (juiced)
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp Piment d’Espelette
- 5 large basil leaves
Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Cut eggplant vertically down the center and score the interior flesh in one inch intervals. Brush with Olive Oil and season with salt and pepper. Place on a baking sheet and bake for one hour, then let cool.
Scrape the flesh and chop it. Combine eggplant flesh with lemon juice, cumin, Piment d’Espelette, salt and pepper. Chop chives and basil and combine them with eggplant. Refrigerate.
Key Lime Wild Honey Dressing
Ingredients:
- 3 tbsp wild honey
- 3 Key limes
- 1 1/2 cups olive oil
- 2 kumquats
- 1 Madagascar vanilla bean
Method:
Juice 3 Key limes. Zest two kumquats. Add the wild honey to the key lime juice and kumquat zest. Scrape out all of the vanilla bean seeds and drizzle all the ingredients with 1.5 cups of olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Refrigerate.
Chilled Vegetable Salad
Ingredients:
- 1 red onion
- 2 green asparagus
- 2 white asparagus
- 2 purple asparagus
- 2 baby carrots
- 1 red endive
- 1 Chioggia (red and white candy striped beet)
- 3 cups, arugula
- 1 Key Lime
- 2 kumquats
Method:
Peel and shave the asparagus, baby carrots and Chiogga and combine in a mixing bowl. Fill with ice and a little cool water and set aside for 1 hour. Then, mix them with honey lime dressing and set aside. Thinly slice the red onion, kumquats and the key lime
Wash the arugula and endives leaves.
Parmesan Tuile
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup fresh parmesan, shredded
Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit. Shred the fresh parmesan. Place the silpat liner or parchment paper on the baking sheet. Divide the shredded parmesan into 4 equal thin circles. Bake until golden brown, 5-6 minutes. Let cool.
To assemble the salad:
Place eggplant caviar in the center of the plate. Place a ball of arugula and red onion mix with wild honey dressing in the center of the eggplant caviar, trying to achieve as much height as possible. Dress all the vegetables and endives on top of the caviar and arugula, arranging them vertically. Garnish with Parmesan tuile, slice of kumquat and key lime and an edible flower.
For more springtime salads, click here.
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