Shaved Asparagus Salad
Summoning the first true harbinger of spring
Hi and happy Earth Day!
I can honestly say that this is my favorite time of year. The winter seems never ending, but the hope that spring brings gives me so much joy (which I think we can agree we all need right now).
The asparagus, the first true harbinger of the warmer, longer, days to come, are not quite out yet where I am, but I’m waiting patiently for their arrival. I’ve been so hungry for spring this year that I’ve broken my usual rule and had a few bunches of asparagus lately. At least they’re from Mexico or California or Florida rather than Peru or Chile.
The weather has been stubbornly chilly this spring. We’ve had a few teaser spring days, and even a faux summer day, but it’s been colder than I’d like and much too windy. Upstate New York was hit with a snowstorm this morning!
HowEVER, it’s April 19th as I write this and I know that it will feel like spring soon. So to get myself in the mood, today is all about asparagus. I went through my camera roll to pick out the highlights from the past seven years of that moment that portends so much. As a cook and recipe developer, I’m always paying attention to what’s in season, maybe more than the average person. At this point in the season, the utter simplicity of some really local, really fresh asparagus is an annual revelation I never get tired of. Later in the season, there’s more produce than I know what to do with, and it feels like a race to cook everything and enjoy the abundance before it’s all gone. When the asparagus pop up, there’s not much else yet, so it makes perfect sense to eat as much of it as possible until they disappear for another year.
Today I’m sharing a shaved asparagus salad with you as well as tips for how to best choose, prep, and shave your asparagus (you’ll find those below the recipe). This salad is a great thing to do with really fresh—and preferably FAT—asparagus, which are easier to shave with a vegetable peeler. When they’re fresh, they’re juicier too, making them a good candidate for eating raw. The dressing quickly softens them.
When I get super-fresh asparagus, I usually do as little as possible with them. I love to throw them on a very hot grill (usually using a grill platter like this one… I promise you’ll use it for everything, not just asparagus) and just have them as a snack with drinks. Or how about topping them with a poached egg and some herbs from the garden? Truly the perfect meal.
A Plant-Based Weeknight Meal Idea
Speaking of grilled asparagus… before I get to today’s Shaved Asparagus Salad recipe, I wanted to share a link to my Grain Bowl with Grilled Tofu and Asparagus, which you can find on my site. If you’re in an area of the country that isn’t still facing snow forecasts, you might be in the mood to grill now that May’s on the horizon. I love this for a plant-based dinner, and I think grilling is just about as easy as dinner gets (no clean up!). I hope you’ll cook this soon—maybe even tonight in honor of Mother Earth!
