The Recipe Room

A little inspiration for a way to enjoy the first of the spring season’s asparagus…

Curly Asparagus Salad with Goat’s Cheese and Medjool Dates combines lengthy ribbons of peeled asparagus with sweet dates and crunchy peanuts, topped with a well-matured and hard goat’s cheese and drizzled all over with a balsamic reduction.

I have two other variations for this salad: sometimes I use toasted pine nuts and parmesan in place of the nuts and the cheese.  At other times I use toasted flaked almonds and drizzle it over with a lime butter, topping off with lime zest and fresh coriander.  All three variations are fun to make and yummy to eat.  Enjoying asparagus raw is a great way to maximise on the nutritional benefits of this wonderful vegetable.

What you need:

• 450g fresh asparagus (thicker stems work best), thoroughly washed
• 60g honey-toasted peanuts
• 50g Medjool dates, stones removed
• 7 tbsp good balsamic vinegar
• 60g hard goat’s cheese
• Salt flakes and ground black pepper to season
• Extra virgin olive oil to dress

What to do:

1. Lay a single stem of asparagus on its side on a chopping board.  Grab the tough end, and using a Y-shaped vegetable peeler, shave off ribbons of asparagus from stalk to tip, peeling away from the tough end that you are holding.  Repeat with the rest of the bunch.  You won’t be using the tough ends so put them aside to compost.
2. Reduce the balsamic vinegar on the hob until it is thick, sticky and very viscous.
3. Arrange the ribbons of asparagus prettily in a medium-sized salad bowl, then drizzle over with some olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Toss the salad carefully with tongs.
4. Chop the dates into thin strands.  Put the peanuts in a small sandwich bag and bash them on a wooden block with a rolling pin to break them up.
5. Sprinkle the chopped dates and peanuts over the top of the salad and toss it again very gently.
6. Use the same peeler to shave off some goat’s cheese curls directly off the block.  Drizzle over with the balsamic reduction, season with a little more salt and pepper, and serve immediately.

20 minutes preparation, 10 minutes cooking

Makes 3-4 servings

Note: For a hot asparagus dish, try this scrumptious asparagus and cheese pudding.

Tags: asparagus, balsamic vinegar, Curly Asparagus Salad with Goats Cheese and Medjool Dates, goat's cheese, Medjool dates, olive oil, peanuts, seasonal food

This entry was posted on Thursday, 3 May, 2012 at 11:39 am by Toni Simpson and is filed under Less than 30 minutes, Side dishes, Starters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the feed RSS 2.0. You can leave a comment, or make a trackback from your own blog.