Asparagus Salad

  

I keep making this salad. It has become a metaphor for loving being in the kitchen: flavors and aromas, fresh ingredients, nourishment, anticipation, pleasant surprise. I began making it when it still seemed safe to go somewhere without social distancing or wearing a mask, and I found some of the best asparagus I’ve ever eaten at Trader Joe’s on my way back from a short vacation. It started out as a recipe fantasy in Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden, and, now that really great asparagus is in my farmer’s market, it has become a way of life.

Six Seasons is a big, bold, flavor-promoting recipe collection. It celebrates the absolute sacredness of freshness and seasonality in produce, but also boosts everything with multiple layers of enhancing flavors – sometimes lots of them, often in combinations that I’m not sure about, always at least one more that I ever thought anyone would slip in. McFadden may be a sorcerer.

 

I have to admit that I’ve been intimidated by this kind of cooking. I don’t really have simple taste, but I do have a “simple” budget and not a lot of time. I would page through this type of cookbook, dreaming and drooling, but ultimately getting a little discouraged by ingredient lists that looked hard to acquire, a little weird, or just plain exhausting.

I set aside plenty of time to work on this recipe the first time I made it. I properly sliced the raw asparagus. I combined the breadcrumbs, Parmesan, walnuts, chile, black pepper, and lemon zest. And then I sniffed the bowl. I’m not sure what made me do it, but there was no going back. There will never be any going back. The fragrance of lemon and toasted nuts, the vaporous umami of the Parmesan (I mean, who knew it was safe to smell cheese?) along with toastiness from the whole grain, homemade breadcrumbs and punches of spice from the chile and black pepper – Alchemy. A whole greater than the sum of its parts. I can’t say enough.

 

The lesson of this dish is that bold layers of big flavor, properly and appropriately applied, can even further enhance already great, fresh ingredients, creating something magically spectacular. This salad is also a full celebration of what it means to enjoy food. It’s a pleasure to make with its meditative slicing and wonderful fragrances. And it’s so incredibly, wonderfully, super-naturally delicious. This is what we food-lovers step into the kitchen for.

I’m going to keep making this salad.

Asparagus Salad with Walnuts, Breadcrumbs, and Herbs

Adapted from Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden

There’s lots of room to adjust seasonings, oil, and lemon to taste in this recipe. Taste as you go and make it your own. It is best while the breadcrumbs are still crisp, but it’s still great once they’ve softened having soaked up lemon and olive oil.

1/3 cup breadcrumbs, preferably coarse, crunchy, and whole grain

½ cup freshly shredded or grated Parmesan cheese

½ cup toasted walnuts or pecans, chopped

Grated zest of 1 lemon

½ teaspoon coarse salt, plus more to taste

About ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste

½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or more or less to taste

1 pound asparagus, tough ends removed

¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, or more to taste

¼ cup fresh mint or parsley leaves, or a combination

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, or a good quality lemon-infused olive oil, plus more to taste

1. In a large bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, Parmesan, walnuts or pecans, lemon zest, salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes. Toss them together, and then STOP. Put your face over the bowl and sniff. Sniff a few more times. Inhale. That’s what you’re here for!

2. Thinly slice the asparagus on a sharp angle. Add to the mixture in the bowl.

3. Pour in the lemon juice and add the mint and/or parsley. Toss everything together. You can taste at this point for salt, spice, and lemon and adjust as you please.

4. Pour over the olive oil and toss everything together. Taste again and adjust as needed.

5. Make this dish multiple times and try out different ratios of salt, oil, lemon and herbs. Make I again and again until it is your own, or until asparagus is out of season in your area.

Makes 4-6 side-dish servings (Although I’m perfectly satisfied to have it as a main dish.)

Other recipes like this one: Fresh Peas and Mint; Brown and Wild Rice Salad with Asparagus and Pea; Apple Salad with Lime Juice, Walnuts, and Cheese

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