Poached baby vegetables with caper mayonnaise

Poaching is popular again, and rightly so. Vegetables cooked this way don’t need to be insipid or dull; if not overcooked, they can show off their natural attributes and taste fresh and light in a way that you never get when roasting or frying. When making this recipe, choose beautiful seasonal vegetables that are clearly fresh and flavorful. Baby turnips or corn will work too, and you can also add fresh fava beans, peas and green beans. Just remember to give your vegetables minimum treatment - don’t chop them up much and don’t cook them for very long. Serve the vegetables warm or cold.

Mayonnaise
• 1/2 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 egg yolk
• 11/2 tsp white wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp salt
• grated zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp capers, drained well and finely chopped
• 1 bunch baby carrots, peeled
• 4 baby fennel
• 12 spears fine asparagus
• 8 baby zucchini
• 10 baby leeks
• 2 tbsp chopped dill to serve

Poaching liquor
• 21/2 cups white wine
• 1 cup olive oil
• 2/3 cup lemon juice
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 onion
• 2 celery stalks
• 1 tsp salt

• To make the mayonnaise. Place the garlic, egg yolk, vinegar, mustard, salt and lemon juice in the bowl of a food processor. Start blending and then very slowly dribble in the oil until you get a thick mayonnaise. Fold in the capers and lemon zest and set aside.
• Wash the vegetables but don’t trim them too much so you are left with some of the stalk or leaves. Cut the vegetables lengthways into halves or quarters, depending on their size, trying to get similarly sized pieces. Very thin vegetables, like asparagus, don’t need to be cut.
• To make the poaching liquor. Place the wine in a wide pan and boil for 2 to 3 minutes. Add all the other poaching liquor ingredients and bring to a simmer. Start the poaching by adding the carrots and fennel to the pot. After 3 minutes add the asparagus, zucchini and leeks and poach for a further 3 to 4 minutes. At this point the vegetables should be cooked but still crunchy.
• Using tongs lift the vegetables from the poaching liquor and onto deep plates. Spoon some liquor around the vegetables if you like. Before serving, top each portion with a dollop of mayonnaise and sprinkle with dill. You can keep the remaining poaching liquor in the fridge to use again

Serves 4