Asparagus Salad with Goat Cheese

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A crunchy fresh asparagus salad with creamy lemon vinaigrette dressing, sweet peas, radishes, arugula and soft goat cheese. Serve this colorful salad with roasted salmon or chicken for the perfect taste of spring and summer!

This asparagus salad is a colorful mixture of fresh asparagus, radishes, sweet peas, baby greens and goat cheese, sauced with a creamy lemon dressing. It’s a perfect way to prepare asparagus for a spring or summer salad.

I’ve been known to make a meal out of salad — the more veggies the better! But there’s something about asparagus that will always be linked to the spring season and the color green.

When it come to cooking asparagus you have so many options. Asparagus can be stir-fried, boiled, steamed, sautéed, grilled, baked or roasted. But did you know that you don’t need to cook asparagus to use it in a salad?

Raw asparagus in salads

Raw asparagus has a snappy, crisp texture and mild, sweet flavor. It almost reminds me of the taste of young green fava beans or sugar snap peas.

• If you’re not sure that you’ll enjoy the flavor of raw asparagus, try this: Slice off a thin piece and taste it. When asparagus is super-fresh, it will taste sweet and refreshing.
• You can also make this salad with blanched asparagus — which means it’s very briefly cooked and immediately shocked in cold water to stop the cooking.

Ingredients you need for the salad:

• Fresh asparagus spears: You’ll need 1 large bunch (1 1/2 pounds).
• Radishes: Use what you can find at your market. Pastel-colored radishes or “breakfast” radishes taste the same as red ones and make a pretty salad.
• Sweet peas, either fresh shelled or thawed frozen.
• Green onions (or 1/2 a red onion)
• Arugula
• Crumbled goat cheese or feta cheese
• Chopped pistachios or almonds
• The lemon vinaigrette is made with olive oil, lemon juice and lemon zest, wine vinegar, plain yogurt, sugar and salt.

How to prep asparagus for salad:

Asparagus is often shaved into ribbons with a vegetable peeler to use in salads. But it can be tedious work and you can’t really use the entire stalk. Instead, I’ve found that it’s much easier (and quicker) to thinly slice asparagus with a sharp knife.

Asparagus salad: Recipe steps

• Once you have sliced the asparagus, you can choose to make the salad without cooking or briefly boil it for 3-4 minutes along with the peas.
• Combine the lemon vinaigrette ingredients in a jar and shake it up until creamy and blended.
• Toss all the vegetables with the goat cheese in a large bowl and toss with the dressing.
• Sprinkle the salad with chopped nuts and a pinch of flaky sea salt and serve!

For an easy dinner menu, serve the salad with roasted salmon or spatchcocked lemon chicken.

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