Asparagus Salad (with Sesame and Ginger)
Description
Forever Foodie Karen Anderson, has put together a year of local recipes in a beautiful book she’s called, ‘Eat Alberta First’. Below is a brilliant way to enjoy fresh asparagus and I can’t wait to work my way through more of her finds! – enjoy!
Ingredients
1 bunch fresh asparagus, trimmed to an even size – this is usually 1 to 1 1/2 lbs.
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
2 t. EACH minced fresh ginger, sesame oil AND soy sauce
2 T. EACH rice vinegar, orange juice AND canola oil
1/2 t. + sambal oelek
~2 T. roasted sesame seeds for garnish
Instructions
Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil, add the asparagus and cook for 2 minutes (maybe a minute or 2 longer if they’re especially large spears). Drain immediately and carefully push the hot asparagus into a large bowl of iced water. Drain again and then leave the beautifully green and slightly tender asparagus laid out on a clean tea towel to dry completely.
To make the sauce, toss the garlic, ginger, sesame oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, orange juice, canola oil and sambal oelek in a blender and pulse until smooth. Arrange the dry asparagus on a platter, drizzle the sauce over all and sprinkle generously with the toasted sesame seeds. These would make a wonderful side with anything grilled, but I also think they’d make a great brunch side with something as simple as eggs and toast!
