A perfect spring salad. Made with barely steamed snow peas and asparagus, it tastes fresh and earthy and herbaceous. I added an entire bunch of parsley, chopped coarsely, and a handful of chopped fresh basil leaves. There's a bit of red onion and some slivered almonds, but roasted pepitas or sunflower seeds or pine nuts would also be delicious.
It's not nearly spring yet in Toronto but it sure feels like it. The ground is already exploding with promise and the buds on the trees are weeks in advance. The green grocers around the city are filled with the reminder that it's spring somewhere: English peas, ruby radishes, thick meaty asparagus stalks, long healthy tubers of daikon, colourful heirloom beets... and today, they gave me everything I needed to make this salad because, well, it's just the sort of thing I feel like eating when it's balmy out and the whole world is vibrating.
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2 bunches asparagus, ends removed, and cut on the diagonal in 1 1/2 inch pieces
2 cups of snow peas
1 bunch of flat leaf parsley, coarsely chopped
a handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped
1 tablespoon diced red onion
1/4 cup slivered almonds (or roasted pepitas, or pine nuts, or sunflower seeds)
sea salt
1 1/2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons lime juice (1 lime basically)
1/2 teaspoon honey
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
This is a super easy salad to prepare. While a pot of salted water comes to a boil, prepare the parsley, basil, onion and set aside in a large bowl. Meanwhile, make the salad dressing in a jar or a bowl and whisk together with a fork. Add the asparagus and the snow peas to the boiling water, cook for 1 minute. Drain. Rinse in cold water, drain again.
Toss everything together. Add the slivered almonds and toss again.
