French Asparagus Polonaise: Sound like music? The taste is divine Life

In Polish cuisine, it is still very popular to serve steamed vegetables – green beans, cauliflower, etc. – sprinkled with breadcrumbs fried in butter. And here the sophisticated French “improved” the polonaise sauce with chopped hard-boiled eggs, greens and a splash of lemon juice. And the French season not only vegetables with this sauce, but also steamed fish and flour dishes.

And if you want to take this simple spring vegetarian dish up a notch, add roasted hazelnuts and aromatic herbs to the polonaise sauce – it will be even more crunchy and flavorful!

4 servings

Ingredients

For asparagus and lemon dressing

• 80ml olive oil (plus a little more for frying the asparagus)
• 80 ml of citrine juice
• Grated rind of ½ lemon
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 1 clove of garlic (grated)
• 2 bunches of asparagus (shave the woody stems with a vegetable peeler or cut them)

Hazelnuts for sprinkling

• 60g of butter
• 1 spring onion (very finely chopped)
• 2 garlic cloves (very finely chopped)
• 40g hazelnuts (chopped)
• 20g breadcrumbs (preferably panko)
• 2.5 tablespoons of chopped parsley
• 2.5 tablespoons of chopped tarragon (if you have it)
• 1 hard-boiled egg, coarsely grated or finely chopped
• salt

Process

1. Make the sprinkles: Heat the butter in a large skillet. When it starts to foam, add the shallots and garlic and fry until soft. Add chopped nuts, then breadcrumbs, chopped greens and half of the egg. Stir-fry for about 2-3 minutes, or until nicely browned, season with salt and store at room temperature until needed.
2. Prepare the lemon dressing: mix oil, lemon juice, zest, sugar, add a little salt, and whisk everything until a homogeneous emulsion. Set aside.

1. Heat a grill pan (or another if you don’t have a grill pan), grease it a little. Brush the asparagus with the oil, then add to the pan and cook over high heat, turning, for about 3-5 minutes, or until slightly softened. Place the asparagus on a plate, drizzle with the lemon oil dressing and sprinkle with the breadcrumbs and nut mixture. Sprinkle the remaining grated egg on top.