Rejesalat

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide pan for cooking the asparagus
• •Vegetable peeler
• •Large mixing bowl
• •Rubber spatula
• •Fine grater or microplane for the lemon zest

Instructions

1. 1

   Peel the asparagus

   White asparagus must be peeled. The skin is fibrous and will ruin the texture of the salad if you leave it on. Lay each spear flat on the counter and run a vegetable peeler from just below the tip down to the base, turning as you go. Snap off the woody ends where they break naturally. This is the part nobody tells you about, and it's the difference between a salad that feels delicate and one that feels like chewing string.

   Save the peelings and ends. Simmered in water with a little salt, they make a clean asparagus broth that's worth keeping for a soup the next day.
2. 2

   Cook the asparagus

   Bring a wide pan of salted water to a gentle simmer. Lower the peeled spears in and cook for eight to ten minutes, depending on thickness. You want them tender at the base and still holding their shape, never floppy. Lift them out with a slotted spoon and plunge them straight into a bowl of iced water. The cold stops the cooking and sets the pale ivory color. Drain well and pat dry on a clean cloth. Any water left on the asparagus will thin the dressing.

3. 3

   Drain the shrimp

   Tip the peeled shrimp into a sieve and let them drain for five minutes. Then spread them on a clean kitchen cloth and pat them gently. Cold-water shrimp carry a lot of brine, and brine in the bowl will turn the dressing grey and salty. Dry shrimp, dry dressing, clean flavor. That's the order of things.

   If you can find fjordrejer, the small sweet shrimp from Greenlandic and Danish waters, use them. They're hand-peeled and their flavor is cleaner and sweeter than any tiger prawn or warm-water substitute.
4. 4

   Make the dressing

   In a bowl large enough to hold the salad, whisk the mayonnaise with the creme fraiche until smooth. Add the lemon juice, the zest, and half the chopped dill. Season with a small pinch of salt, a grind of white pepper, and the pinch of sugar. The sugar isn't there to sweeten the salad. It's there to round the acid of the lemon. Taste it now. It should taste bright and clean, with the dill already present but not yet the star.

5. 5

   Cut the asparagus

   Slice the cold asparagus into bite-sized pieces, about two centimetres long. Keep the tips whole if you can. They're the prettiest part of the spear and they deserve to stay intact in the salad.

6. 6

   Fold everything together

   Add the shrimp and the cut asparagus to the dressing. Fold them in with a rubber spatula, slowly and with care. Don't stir hard. Cold-water shrimp are fragile, and if you beat them around the bowl they'll break up and the salad will turn to paste. A few gentle turns of the spatula is all it takes to coat everything. Add the rest of the chopped dill and fold once more. Taste and adjust the salt and lemon if it needs it.

7. 7

   Chill briefly

   Cover the bowl and let the salad sit in the fridge for at least thirty minutes before serving. This isn't a rest that builds flavor dramatically. It's the moment the dressing settles into the shrimp and the temperature drops to where it needs to be. Rejesalat eaten warm is wrong. Rejesalat eaten cold, after its brief rest, is right.

8. 8

   Build the smorrebrod

   Butter each slice of bread generously, right to the edges. The butter is a barrier that keeps the bread from going soggy under the salad, and it also carries flavor, so don't skimp. Pile a generous spoonful of rejesalat onto each slice, shaping it into a soft mound that leaves a rim of buttered bread showing at the edges. Top with fresh dill fronds and a lemon wedge alongside. You'll know when it's right because the pink shrimp, the pale asparagus, and the green dill look like spring on the plate. Tak for mad.

Chef Tips

• •Cold-water shrimp are not optional. Warm-water prawns, tiger shrimp, and anything from tropical waters are the wrong dish. The texture is wrong and the sweetness is wrong. If you can find fjordrejer from Greenland or the North Sea, use them. If not, use small cold-water shrimp from a trusted fishmonger.
• •White asparagus season in Denmark runs from late April to Sankt Hans Day on the 23rd of June. If you're making this outside that window, switch to blanched green asparagus and accept that the dish will be a little different. Don't use tinned or jarred white asparagus. The texture is gone and the flavor went with it.
• •This salad is at its best a few hours after it's made, when the flavors have married but the shrimp haven't started to break down. Make it in the morning for a lunch, not the night before.
• •Serve with a cold glass of dry Riesling or a glass of well-chilled aquavit. An Easter lunch with rejesalat and a small glass of snaps is one of the most hyggelig moments in the Danish year.

Advance Preparation

• •The asparagus can be peeled, cooked, and cooled the day before. Store it wrapped in a damp cloth in the fridge so it doesn't dry out.
• •The dressing can be made a day ahead and kept covered in the fridge. Don't add the shrimp until a few hours before serving.
• •The assembled salad holds for up to six hours in the fridge. Beyond that, the shrimp start to weep and the dressing loosens.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 255g)