May is National Salad Month and with the warmer weather here, there’s no better time to give your oven a rest and enjoy a lighter meal. There are a wide variety of salads, vegetable salads, salads of pasta, legumes, or grains, mixed salads incorporating meat, poultry, or seafood, and fruit salads.
You can celebrate National Salad Month with this light and refreshing salad from Love & Lemons that is made with asparagus, my favorite spring vegetable.
Asparagus Salad with Avocado Dressing
Ingredients
- 2 bunches asparagus, tender parts, chopped into 1-inch pieces
- 1 T. extra virgin olive oil
- 1 T. fresh lemon juice
- ½ garlic clove, grated
- ½ t. sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 c. frozen peas, thawed
- ⅓ c. crumbled feta
- 3 radishes, thinly sliced
- ¼ c. pine nuts
- Mint or basil leaves, for garnish
Directions
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and set a bowl of ice water nearby. Drop the asparagus into the boiling water and blanch for about 1 minute, until tender but still bright green. Transfer to the ice water for 1 minute, then drain. Transfer the asparagus to a kitchen towel to dry.
Combine the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Add the asparagus and peas and toss until coated. Transfer to a platter, drizzle with some of the avocado dressing, top with feta, radishes, pine nuts, and mint or basil.
Avocado Dressing
Ingredients
- 1 ripe avocado, pitted
- ¾ c. water
- ¼ c. extra virgin olive oil
- 3 T. lemon juice
- 1 t. fresh dill
- ½ garlic clove
- ½ t. sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
Combine the avocado, water, olive oil, lemon juice, dill, garlic, salt, and several grinds of fresh pepper in a blender. Blend until creamy, then transfer to a jar.
If the dressing is too thick, stir in a little more water.
Enjoy!
