Asparagus Salad, Italian-Style
- Total Time
- 20 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1½ to 2pounds asparagus, not too skinny (fat is fine)
- 2tablespoons olive oil, or to taste
- Lemon juice to taste
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Freshly shaved Parmesan to taste
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Preparation
- Step 1
Cut off the woodsy bottoms of the asparagus spears; discard. Cut off the flower ends and set aside.
- Step 2
Use a vegetable peeler to remove the dark green outer skin of each spear; you should get three or four ribbons from each one. Set aside. Cut the remaining stalks crosswise into ¼-inch rounds.
- Step 3
Combine ribbons, sliced rounds and tips in a large bowl. Drizzle asparagus with oil, then sprinkle with lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper, then top with Parmesan.
Private Notes
Comments
I wouldn't use the outer skins; they are tough. But I'm surprised at the lovely fresh asparagus flavour of the sliced stems. Definitely don't need cooking.
The grocery store (here in Alaska) had some really fat asparagus this week and even though I didn't have high hopes for this recipe, I made it anyway. It was great. I broke the bottoms off where they wanted to snap. The shaved skins I got were not at all tough. I wish I'd cut them in half to make the salad easier to eat but didn't think of that till too late. I taste tested as I went to make sure nothing was too fibrous. I will do this agin.
I gave this 5 stars in my NYT cooking review. I can't recall the last time I gave any recipe in my Recipe Box 5 stars. Five is gallactically spectacular rating for me. This is a 4.6.
Can easily imagine additions - tuna, canned mackerel, anchovies, olives and on and on
I hadn't conceived the concept of raw asparagus salad until I read Bitman's article.
This recipe made my spring! So fresh and simple. Oddly, we served it to friends and only the women wanted more. The men were “meh” on it. We buy two pounds of asparagus every week while it’s available at our local farmers’ market. It’s always good, but I was bored by my limited repertoire.
Used white asparagus. Steamed 4 mins and then chilled. I don’t care for raw asparagus. The lemon/olive oil combo is a no brainer, but I chose to coat with lemon juice first and follow with olive oil
So, I wasn't bowled over with this. It was fine but not great enough to justify the prep time. Chopped, lightly steamed or whole, grilled asparagus with butter and lemon would beat this in my book and also be easier to prep. I made this in advance and the salt created a runny, muddy looking "dressing" by serving time. Better to salt the asparagus and let drain, then season. We had a lot left over, so I just drained it and steamed lightly for leftovers. The steamed version was preferable IMO.
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