Vegetable spring garden with saffron mayonnaise
A beautiful and simple recipe that can be replicated pretty much at any time of the year with seasonal ingredients.
Once, after posting a picture of a similar dish from a supper club on my Instagram, a user commented by asking whether we were cooking for humans or rabbits: to which I answered, isn’t that the whole point? Taking beautiful seasonal ingredients and barely touching them, simply finding a way to display them beautifully in order to valorize their taste and colours the most.
This vegetable plate is a version of a Gargouillou, created by Michel Bras, a firework display which evolves constantly as the season unfolds. You can pretty much anything your heart desires, based on seasonality and availability.
Clover, cauliflower stalk, peas, tuberous chervil, nasturtium, phyteuma, pattypan squash, artichoke, endive, pink radish, salsify, tomato, spring onion, fennel, radicchio, cedar, dill, celery, lavander... and other vegetables, young shoots, leaves, stalks, grains or roots can be found on this beautifully plated concoction.
The key is to purchase a nice variety of vegetables and plate them beautifully, before adding a spoonful of vibrant saffron mayonnaise. Creativity is key so don’t be afraid to play around with your ingredients: pictured here, the sweet peas can be eaten with the pod, as well as the cedar which has a zesty, edible skin.
Ingredients
Prepping time: 30 min
For the mayonnaise:
2 egg yolks - they need to be extra fresh
250g vegetable oil
1 lemon, juiced
1 tsp white wine vinegar
2 portions of saffron
3g fine salt
Pepper to taste
Vegetables: you can use any seasonal vegetables you can find or like.
Asparagus
Celery
Steamed artichoke
Radicchio
Endive
Whole sweet peas
Radishes
Cedar (you can eat the rind)
Extras, to decorate:
Edible flowers
Soft boiled quail eggs
Dill
Preparation
Place the egg yolks at room temperature in a deep bowl, add a few drops of lemon juice and start beating them with an electric whisk.
With your whisk still on, gradually add the oil in a stream. Add a little more, wait until incorporated, then gradually add some more, until you added about half of the oil. If you add too much oil at once, the mayonnaise will break.
Mix the saffron in the lemon juice.
At this point gradually add the lemon juice, and continue with the oil. When you’re done with the oil, you can season it with salt, pepper and the vinegar.
Plate your veggies on a beautiful plate with a spoon of the mayo, decorate with the flowers, egg and dill and serve!
