Asparagus Bread Salad
Ingredients
Shallot Vinaigrette
- 1 shallot (diced small)
- 2 tbsp seasoned rice wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- fresh ground black pepper
Croutons
- 3 cups torn crusty bread
- 3 tbsp olive oil (plus more if needed)
- 2 tbsp Herbs de Provence
Salad
- 1 lb asparagus
- 1½ cup peas
- 4 cups salad greens
- 4 radishes (sliced thin)
- ½ oz fresh mint (picked from stems)
- fresh chives (for garnish)
- edible flowers (for garnish)
Directions
- Make the shallot vinaigrette: combine diced shallot and seasoned rice wine vinegar to a bowl and let stand for 20 minutes. Add olive oil and season with fresh ground black pepper
- Blanch the asparagus by bringing a pot of water to a rolling boil and cooking the asparagus for 1-2 minutes before removing to an ice bath or a strainer under cold, running water
- To make the croutons you'll want to heat olive oil over medium-low heat and add the torn bread pieces once hot
- Season with herbs de provence and then turn the pieces over with tongs or a spatula
- Cook until golden brown and then place on a paper towel. About 2-3 minutes on each side
- Toss salad greens with radish slices, edamame and mint. Top with asparagus, croutons, chives and flowers. Enjoy!
Any bread salad will be a perfect addition to your meals once spring rolls around. I love to incorporate fresh mint to bring out cooling, floral flavors with in-season veggies.
The greens are great, but my favorite part of this salad is the homemade croutons. I like to find a crusty, country-style bread to use. It will have more flavor than your traditional french loaf. I don’t cook them until their so hard that they’re hard to bit through. Instead, I like to get the edges crisp and golden and leave the insides nice and chewy. This way the bread will soak up some of the shallot vinaigrette that we’ll dress the salad with.
The first thing to do, is start of the vinaigrette since it will take the shallots about twentl minutes to macerate.
Moving on to the salad, begin by blanching your asparagus. This sounds fancy, but blanching is incredibly easy. Bring a pot of water to a rumbling boil and drop the asparagus in for a minute or two. Then simply move the asparagus to an ice bath or strainer under cold, running water until chilled.
While the asparagus is chilling, make the croutons. Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat, add the bread chunks and sprinkle in Herbs de Provence. Cook a couple minutes until golden brown, then flip to cook the other side. Feel free to add more olive oil if needed.
Then simply combine all of your ingredients and enjoy!
This is a great salad to serve for lunch with a little bit of chicken or fish to add protein or as a first to have with a larger meal. It’s so simple and fresh that it will pair with red meat and pork no problem!
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