But first, a riddle:
Q: What’s green and finally cheaper than a gallon of gas?
A: A pound of asparagus!
Asparagus is one of my favorite green things, next to avocados and money. I’ll gladly take a big helping of asparagus piping-hot from the oven, roasted with garlic and red-pepper infused oil or baked in a lovely tart with romano and gruyere. I’ve been known to eat it and nothing else for lunch and dinner… and then lunch again the next day.
For springtime get togethers, I like to answer my call to side-dish duty with an asparagus salad. Incredibly fresh and bright (and light!), it comes together with olive oil flavored with lemon zest, sea salt, pepper, and and a heaping serving of goat cheese crumbled over the top.
Lemony Asparagus Salad with Goat Cheese
Tender-crisp asparagus and goat cheese with a lemon dressing.
Ingredients
- 1 lb asparagus
- 2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 1/2 tsp lemon zest
- Sea salt & black pepper, to taste
- 1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese
Instructions
- Blanch the asparagus: Bring a medium pot or sauce pan of water to boil. Prepare a bowl of ice and water to shock the asparagus after cooking.
- Trim the woody ends off of the bunch of asparagus. Cut the asparagus into 2-inch pieces.
- Add the asparagus to the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Remove the asparagus from the pan and place into the bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process and cool the asparagus.
- Whisk the olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, and pepper together in a medium bowl.
- Add the asparagus and goat cheese and toss with tongs until well coated with the lemony oil.
Notes
Yields: 4 servings
Estimated time: 15 minutes
Cook more asparagus!
Quick Pasta Toss with Asparagus, Roasted Red Peppers, and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Quick & Easy Asparagus Tarts
Asparagus Pizza with Rosemary & Goat Cheese
Oven-Roasted Asparagus
I love asparagus too! I’ve seen a lot of it this week in the blogosphere… must be that time of year!
I haven’t been able to read my favorite food blogs lately… love your new look!
YUMMMM Sounds great, I love this time of the year thru Summer for all the great fresh food! I am planting a BIG batch of Asparagus for next year (or the year after, cause I think it takes a while to grow)
Thanks for the recipe, I grabbed this one and now I am off to look at the other ones. 🙂
So simple but and delicious 🙂
Isn’t it nice that you don’t have to think of it as a splurge anymore!?
We planted asparagus roots two years ago, so this is the first year we’ll get to harvest them. I’m very excited, as you can’t get any fresher than straight from the garden!
I’ll take asparagus any way, but this sounds especially delicious!!
Great and simple! I love asparaguses. I’ve just opened my season of asparagus dishes http://culinaryjourneybyme.blogspot.com/2011/04/sparglji-s-citrusovo-omako-hollandaise.html
..and I will try your salad