Bouchon's Asparagus

Our weight has been rising as fast as my bread dough, so I decided to slow down on making bread and try perfecting some other cooking skills. Every week I'm going to try making a new recipe from one of my cookbooks, I have 354, so new ideas shouldn't be hard to find.

For lunch today I made Chilled Asparagus with Vinaigrette and Eggs Mimosa from Thomas Keller's Bouchon Cookbook. There are a lot of steps to this dish, but I really enjoyed making it and John & I both enjoyed eating it.
The cute little purple flowers are chive blossoms that I just happened to have. Okay, the truth is I left some chives in the fridge too long and they sprouted flowers, but aren't they pretty?

You start by removing the tough ends of the asparagus, then trim the ends so that the spears are of equal length, reserving the trimmings. The trimmings will be used later to make the coulis, (there is no need peel these trimmings; leaving the skin on will make the coulis a vivid green.) Set aside. Peel the asparagus spears, beginning about 1 inch below the base of the tip. Blanch the asparagus spears for 4 to minutes, or until just tender. Transfer to an ice bath, when they are cold drain and refrigerate. Add the trimmings to the boiling water and blanch for 4 to 7 minutes, reserve some of the cooking water, add cooked trimmings in ice bath and drain. Blend the trimmings, with some of the reserved water, until pureed. Add some olive oil, salt & pepper and refrigerate. Hard boil eggs, remove the yolks and finely chop. Thinly slice radishes into fine julienne. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of asparagus coulis into a pool in the center of the serving plate. Top with the asparagus spears. Spoon 2 tablespoons of vinaigrette over the center of each mound of spears. Sprinkle the egg yolks over the vinaigrette, then sprinkle the yolks with a pinch each of kosher salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Toss the radishes with the chives, 2 teaspoons of the olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Place the radish mixture on the egg yolks and drizzle lightly with additional oil.