In fact, I was a little surprised when EDEKA invited me to participate in the 2014 seasonal calendar and contribute a salad recipe for the month of April. Salad? I actually work much more often with fish, meat, the grill, sous-vide and more fancy products. All the more exciting, actually. Challenge gratefully accepted.
Fortunately, April is also under the sign of asparagus. This year even earlier than usual. Due to the mild weather. So the idea for my salad came together quite quickly and still directly in the very new and well-stocked fruit and vegetable department of my EDEKA in Hamburg Bahrenfeld.
It is very clear here how strongly the Group’s new mantra also flows into the design of the markets. This is because EDEKA is probably the only retail company with its own competence center for fruit and vegetables, the EDEKA Fruchtkontor. This means: EDEKA maintains long-term and trusting relationships with producers around the globe. This ensures short transport routes and products where you know where they come from.
What I had in mind was a combination of some fresh asparagus, a SalaRicco, part of EDEKA’s new fresh produce line, and some beet, fennel and an orange. Serve with a very light fruity dressing. Ready.
Almost. Because first you need to vacuum the asparagus and beet. In both bags, I added just a little butter and a slice of lemon in addition, and a touch of cumin for the beet.
Ingredients (serves four):
600gr asparagus
200gr beet
3 SalaRicco
1-2 fennel (with lots of fennel greens)
2 oranges
1 lemon
20gr pistachio
Spring roll dough
Olive oil
Salt
Honey
Then both can be cooked sous-vide at around 80 degrees for about twenty minutes. Of course, you can also resort to the conventional method or prepare the asparagus in the steamer. Sous-vide offers the advantage that the taste is significantly intensified and virtually none of the flavor can diffuse. Especially with asparagus, I always find this sensational.
While the asparagus is cooking, you can take care of the salad. To do this, wash the SalaRicco and chop one part very finely, the other coarsely. Also wash the fennel and cut into small cubes, put the fennel greens aside for now. Fillet the oranges and squeeze some juice for the dressing. Chop the pistachios. Defrost sheets for spring rolls (or alternatively prepare your own dough ), preheat the deep fryer to at least 190 degrees. Mix the coarsely chopped lettuce and fennel.
Mix the juice of the orange with plenty of good olive oil, salt, pepper and a little honey and grate in a little lemon zest.
Once the asparagus is ready (it should definitely still be really firm to the bite), remove it from the sous-vide machine and cut about half of it into 2 cm wide pieces and mix it into the salad. Mix with the dressing and carefully roll into the spring roll dough. To do this, first fold over the sides and lightly coat with a flour/water mixture. Then roll up completely, brush the edge of the dough again and press it tight.
Now place the lettuce spring rolls very briefly in the deep fryer, turning them constantly. Drain and arrange on a small bed of the finely chopped lettuce, fennel greens and pistachios, add some asparagus and two orange fillets with some fennel greens to each.
More recipes from the EDEKA seasonal calendar have appeared here:
What Ina loves: From tropical dream to mango cake
flowers on my plate: Easy Peasy Gourmet Sandwich with Avocado & Tomato Pesto
Jack of the oven: lemon tart with meringue topping
And in May you can read at Anja from butiksofie a recipe around the potato…
Note: This article was created in cooperation with EDEKA.
