Warm Roasted Broccoli & Potato Gribiche

I am just dying for spring to come. Dying. Today is a total tease, the snow has been melting and is almost completely gone, its 4˚C (40˚F), sunny, I can hear birds chirping, there is hope! And tomorrow it will all be snatched away from us. Six inches of snow. I mean, come on. 

But, in celebration of this tiny taste of spring (and the fact that tomorrow's snow won't be falling on five months of accumulated used-to-be-snow-but-is-now-icy-and-gross-and-the-color-of-oppression), I'm painting my nails turquoise and making something that doesn't fall completely within the realm of winter food. This dish is an expression of my hope and yearning for spring. Get ready, its warm salad time!

Firstly, I don't know if you've ever had roasted broccoli, but if you haven't, you need to get on that. For real, it's so good. This may sound boring (hey, this is a judgement-free zone), but broccoli is probably my favorite vegetable, particularly when its roasted. There is something about roasting broccoli that intensifies all of the best things about it. The flavor deepens, it stays nice and green, gets a little charred, and best of all, it soaks up sauce even better! And, believe me, you want to soak up this sauce. 

Sauce gribiche (pronounced gree-beesh) is a traditional French mayonnaise based sauce studded with tons of fines herbes, briny cornichons and capers, and chopped hardboiled egg.  There are a million ways to make it - some people just stir all the ingredients together, others emulsify the egg yolks and oil first and then fold the aromatics in, some add shallots, others spike it with nutmeg or tabasco (yeeeah, that's not traditional, but it tastes darn good). It is a traditional accompaniment for calf's head and cold fish dishes, but I think it is totally divine on green vegetables. Asparagus, green beans, brussels sprouts, fiddleheads (yum!), rapini and even artichokes are really good with gribiche. 

This dish is great on its own as a light meal or as a side for whatever else you're putting on the table. Don't worry if you're missing a couple of the ingredients - it won't suffer too much sans cornichons or tarragon, and substitutions are A-OK. 

And now, without any further ado...

Warm Roasted Broccoli & Potato Gribiche

Adapted from Super Natural Every Day by Heidi Swanson

Kitchen Soundtrack: Passive Me, Aggressive You - The Naked and Famous

Enough for 4

Ingredients:

• 4 large eggs
• 680g (1½ lbs) Yukon Gold potatoes, cut in ¾ inch pieces
• 450g (1 lb) broccoli, cut into medium sized florets, stems sliced ½ in thick
• 150ml (½ cup plus 2 tbsp) olive oil
• 2 shallots, finely diced
• 1 tbsp parsley, chopped
• 1 tbsp tarragon, chopped
• 1 tbsp chives or chervil, chopped
• 1 tbsp capers, chopped
• 1 tbsp cornichons, chopped
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 1tbsp wholegrain mustard
• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• tabasco, to taste (optional)
• salt and black pepper, to taste

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 400˚F. Set a racks at the middle and top of the oven.
2. In a small pot, hard boil the eggs by covering them with cold water, bringing to a boil over medium heat, covering with a lid and allowing them to sit for 10 minutes. Drain, and then drop the eggs into a bowl of ice water to stop them from cooking further.
3. Toss the potatoes with 1 tbsp olive oil and sprinkle with a generous pinch of salt. Roast on a rimmed sheet pan on the middle rack until golden and cooked through, about 40 minutes. Stir or shake the pan every so often.
4. When the potatoes are about halfway done, toss the broccoli with 1 tbsp olive oil and a generous pinch of salt. Place on the upper rack in the oven and roast until slightly charred and cooked al dente, 15-20 minutes.
5. In the mean time, peel the eggs, and reserving one of the yolks, cut the rest of the eggs into julienne pieces or roughly chop them. To make speedy work of it use an egg slicer and cut each egg once horizontally and once vertically, you will get uniform match-stick like pieces.
6. To make the gribiche: in a medium bowl, mash the reserved yolk with the dijon and whole grain mustard, whisk in the vinegar. Slowly drizzle in the remaining ½ cup of oil, whisking constantly to create an emulsion. Stir the shallots, herbs, capers, cornichons, and a few twists of freshly ground black pepper. Gently stir in the chopped egg.  Season to taste with salt and tabasco.
7. In a large bowl, gently combine the potatoes, broccoli and gribiche. Serve warm.