What a better way to celebrate Spring than a delightful and luscious asparagus starter. We love the flavor and texture combinations you get when you combine a flash cooked asparagus and cold smoked salmon with egg, WOW! Now, let’s “kick it up a notch” and make that egg a “Smoked Salmon Deviled Egg”, laid on a bed of microgreens propped up with a chunk of avocado and you have “FANTASTIC”. Oh, let’s not forget the salmon caviar on top. Yum, over and over. Hence, without further ado, may we present our “Asparagus and Cold Smoked Salmon with Smoked Salmon Deviled Egg”.
It made such a lovely and elegant starter at a recent dinner party, with thumbs up coming from all the guest. Furthermore, one can add another slice of salmon and throw on another deviled egg and have a lovely brunch entree.
The Fishy Stuff
You’ll need some nice cold smoked salmon. This is the soft stuff that’s thinly sliced. The nicer the quality (thus higher priced), the better the dish. If we were in North America, we’d go to Fresh Market or Whole Foods. They both sell good quality cold smoked salmon. Costco also sells a pretty decent soft (Nova) smoked salmon. The only issue with using this brand is that occasionally the product is previously frozen. Freezing doesn’t affect the taste so much put does the texture, making it difficult to separate.
Salmon or trout (roe) caviar should be available from a good fishmonger. Asian specialty stores should have Ikura (salmon roe), either fresh or in the frozen seafood section. Why not be extremely decadent and use Caspian Osetra caviar to the tune of USD$182/ounce (28g) or maybe not. If caviar isn’t your thing, just leave the fish roe off.
Here in Sweden cold and warm smoked salmon is readily available. Our favorite place to go for all smoked seafood is Kåseberga-Fisk AB in the Österlen area of Sweden. It overlooks the Baltic Sea with the Danish island of Bornholm on the horizon. During the summer months people from all over the world line up for taste of their famous Sillamacka. It is our of this world! But enough on Österlen for now, as it’ll be a multipart post this summer.
The Eggy Stuff.
We choose to use our luscious “Smoked Salmon Deviled Eggs” for this this appetizer. It’s a wonderfully decadent deviled egg with a smokey, yolky, creamy yumminess. You can find the recipe at this post “Smoked Salmon Deviled Eggs“. However, you can use any deviled egg recipe you like. But, the dish should be serve with boiled eggs of some sort. Maybe you don’t want to garnish with fish roe, garnish with finely chopped egg instead.
FYI: In Sweden, this dish would likely be serve with a “mimosaägg”, which is basically the same as a North American Deviled Egg. Some mimosaägg recipes even included canned tuna and anchovies. We might have to give that one a try.
The Green Stuff
For the asparagus, you’ll need good quality flash cooked and chilled spears. Our recent post Flash Cooked and Chilled Asparagus talks about the preparation of a proper Al Dente spear, with photos of our asparagus patch we had back in Georgetown, KY. We like to lay the spears on a wedge of avocado on top of microgreens lightly dress with Extra Virgin olive oil (EVOO).
Happy Asparagus Assembling
Asparagus and Cold Smoked Salmon with Smoked Salmon Deviled Egg
Ingredients
- 14 - spears "Flash Cooked and Flash Cooled" asparagus at room temperature.
- 8 -12 slices Cold (Nova) smoked salmon about 8 oz (225g) to 12 oz (340g) total at room temperature.
- 1 - large Avocado - ripe, peeled and quartered and dipped in lemon juice.
- Juice of one small lemon.
- 4 - 8 Smoked Salmon Deviled Eggs.
- 4 - Handfuls of fresh micro greens washed and dried.
- 2 oz. (56g) - Salmon roe caviar (you can substitute steelhead, trout, lumpfish, and sturgeon roe).
- 4 - slices from the thickest part of a large lemon cut about 1/8".
- Extra virgin olive oil and vinegar of choice to dress salad greens.
- 1.5 - tbsp finely snipped chives for garnish.
- Fresh cracked pepper
Instructions
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First of all, start by gently patting dry your asparagus. We always prepare a couple extra to have in the event of damage to one of the spears. And, of course, any left over spears goes to Chloe dog. She loves asparagus!
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Once the asparagus are dry, sort them into groups of three on a cutting board. They should all the about the same length.
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Next, gently remove the slices of salmon, placing two to three slice flat on a large plate. When using smaller slices, stagger the pieces to have an overlap.
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Position the three asparagus in the center of the salmon slices. Flip salmon over one side of the asparagus and roll to complete. You may have to adjust from center depending on the width of the salmon slices. Place the salmon rolled asparagus to the side on a piece of parchment paper.
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Next, toss the salad greens lightly with an extra-virgin olive oil and vinegar of choice. Don't over dress the salad, you just want a very light coating. Once tossed place a small amount of the greens on each of your four serving plates.
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Now, place one of the lemon dipped avocados on the salad greens. Place it in the upper half of your plate or near the top of the greens.
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Ok, prop the reserved salmon wrapped asparagus on the avocado.
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Now it's time for the Smoked Salmon Deviled Egg. Plate this to your liking.
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Using a small spoon, place one quarter of the salmon caviar on the top of the smoked salmon wrapped asparagus.
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Garnish with a twist of fresh lemon and few sprinkles of fresh ground pepper. Then sprinkle on the finely snipped chives.
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Time to serve.
Recipe Notes
This wonderful recipe was adapted from a recipe by Marie Melhior, which appeared in MAT magasinet (Sweden).
This recipe could be made ahead through "step 8". However, we would not advise dressing the greens, but instead serve them dry with an Extra Virgin Olive Oil & vinegar dressing on the side.
Holly | Beyond Kimchee says
This is very elegant dish to start a formal dinner. I love smoked salmon with asparagus combination. I might try this for my Easter dinner this year.
Ron says
Holly – Thanks for the comments. It was certainly a smash when we served it. Enjoy!
Chava says
This looks so beautiful and sophisticated. I will add this to my list to try for a future dinner party. Fabulous post!
Ron says
Chava – Thanks. It was fun to make, serve and blog. I think you might enjoy it.