Sunday 18 September 2016

Asparagus, strawberry and greens salad with poppy seed dressing

    It gets to the point in September where the school term is about finished, everyone is tired and Spring's fresh colourful produce is craved after Winter.  It was very exciting to find asparagus at the farmers market.  Which might make you think it has been salad weather.  Actually it rained all last week but we ate salad despite the downpours.

    How I have missed asparagus!  The supermarkets tempt me with spears flown in from the Northern Hemisphere but I wait until the local produce comes into the shops.  That does not mean asparagus that comes from Mexico or Australia, which I saw in a supermarket recently. 

    I found a salad that also featured strawberries, which have been plentiful and cheap lately.  It was on the second last day of the term when I had a bad start to the day.  I had slept in, then we could not find Sylvia's glasses, spent too long fruitlessly looking for them and getting her to school late.  I needed some salad to fix my life.  Sadly life is more complicated than that but we did find Sylvia's glasses that night.

    Not before dinner, though.  I served up up salad, quinoa, seasoned tofu and roast pumpkin.  E and I really enjoyed ours but Sylvia wanted her salad in a separate bowl, gobbled up her tofu, rubbed poppyseeds off her berries, and turned up her nose at the greens.

    Thankfully last week is behind us, the school holidays are here and the spring rains have eased, if not completely gone.  We even had a few strawberry flowers budding in the garden.  And I hope there are many more healthy salads ahead of us.

    I am sending this salad to Kimmy and Mary-Ellen for Healthy Vegan Fridays
    at http://www.rockmyvegansocks.com, Cindy for Gluten Free Fridays, Jac for Meat Free Mondays and Shaheen and VegHog for Eat Your Greens.

    More asparagus recipes on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
    Asparagus, artichoke and wild rice salad (gf, v)
    Asparagus, potato and quinoa soup (gf, v)
    Asparagus sauce (gf, v)
    Crustless asparagus and potato quiche
    Lentil salad with haloumi and asparagus (gf)
    Maple walnut asparagus bowl (gf, v)
    Peasant potato salad (gf) 

    Asparagus, strawberry and greens salad with poppyseed dressing
    Adapted from Keepin' It Kind
    Serves 2-4

    1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and chopped
    olive oil spray
    handful sugar snap peas, trimmed
    handful spinach and rocket
    stalk of celery, sliced
    half avocado, diced
    125g strawberries, hulled
    handful pea shoots

    Poppyseed dressing:
    juice of 1 large lime
    1 tbsp maple
    1 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
    1 tablespoon olive oil
    1/2 teaspoon mild English mustard
    pinch of salt and shake of pepper
    1 tablespoon poppy seeds

    Heat heavy based frypan and add in asparagus.  Spray with oil and cook over medium high heat until asparagus has a few char marks and is cooked.  Cool.  (I put mine on a tray and stuck it in the freezer for 5-10 minutes.

    While asparagus cools, arrange ingredients in a salad bowl and whisk together dressing ingredients.  Add cooled asparagus and drizzle with dressing.  Toss and serve.  (NB: I made mine 4 or 5 hours ahead.)

    On the Stereo:
    Where the Power is: Magazine

    14 comments:

    1. Such a pretty and green salad, maybe for Eat Your Greens? :)

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      1. Thanks VegHog - much appreciate your reminder

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    2. Delicious!
      We are all ready for some salads after a long, cold and very wet winter in the Adelaide Hills.

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      1. Thanks Amanda - spring is wonderful after winter is so lacking in wonderful green veg

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    3. You are so lucky going into summer. Although I remember thinking how lucky I was when you started talking about winter, things are now reversing. Although I can't complain as winter here isn't much of a winter.
      This salad sounds so good! I don't know if I'll be able to track down asparagus anymore, but I'll try as this sounds great =)

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      1. Thanks Kimmy - I feel the same way when you are headed into winter - am sure you could make this more autumnal with say green beans and blackberries

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    4. It's so funny hearing you talk about spring when the weather is changing to fall in the US. I will miss asparagus until next spring! I haven't seen much of it lately but if I do, I'll be making this salad for sure. I love the poppy seed dressing. :)

      Thanks so much for linking up with us for #HealthyVeganFridays! I’m Pinning and sharing!

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      1. Thanks Mary Ellen - I love asparagus' short season because it is special but it is always sad when the season is over

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    5. What did you think of the strawberry salad? I have been served a few while overseas and just can't get to love it. I love salad though!

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      1. Thanks Lorraine - I really liked teh strawberries in this salad - could almost just had a bowl of this with dressing and feel good about eating fruit for dinner :-) I have made a few other strawberry salads and really love them

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    6. This is a beautiful spring salad. I don't share the asparagus enthusiasm that so many have but do like it on occasion, and it's one of the few vegetables Mr B gets truly enthusiastic about.

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      1. Thanks Kari - it would work without asparagus but perhaps you would appreciate the asparagus with some nice dressing, esp if Mr B enjoys it. I have liked asparagus more since reading Animal Vegetable Miracle about Barbara Kingsolver write about growing it

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    7. Yum - what a beautiful fresh looking salad, perfect as it gets warmer.

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    8. Thank you so much for sharing with #EatYourGreens can't believe your going into summer and we are into Autumn. The round up will be up very soon.

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