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| Enjoy the season’s offerings with this Spring Salad |
Spring has got to be my favorite season. It is full of life and color and promise. The weather turns warm yet is still interspersed with chilly days and rainy days, which are cozy to me. I love to work in the soil and plant seeds. And I love eating this Spring Salad made up of creamy potatoes, spring greens and fresh asparagus.
The Salad
Do you ever find yourself wondering what to eat alongside your main dish at dinner, or what to have for lunch? My default is usually a salad. A hearty one, with a combination of cooked and fresh vegetables , a tasty dressing and often protein. I love the versatility of salads and how seasonal they can be.
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| I love the versatility of salads |
The Ingredients
Spring has lots to offer in terms of salad ingredients. Tender greens, dark leafy greens, radishes, new potatoes, asparagus, artichokes, rhubarb and spring onions are available, as well as beets and citrus fruits.
In this salad I used gold potatoes. I’ve often heard about new potatoes and how wonderful they are, and I just recently learned that new potatoes are simply harvested sooner so that their sugars haven’t fully converted to starch.
I also used spring greens and asparagus. I’m hoping that next year I will be able to have my garden prepared in time to harvest my own spring greens and asparagus, but for now, this will do.
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| This salad uses fresh, seasonal ingredients |
The Result
The salad turned out quite pleasant, with a nice balance between the acidity of the dressing, the creaminess of the potatoes and the crispness of the greens and asparagus. If I wanted to dress it up a bit more and have it as a main dish I would add prosciutto or bacon and perhaps some currants. Check out the recipe below to make it this week!
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| Spring Salad: a nice balance of creamy potatoes, crisp greens and asparagus, and a zingy vinaigrette |
Other Seasonal Salads
– Summer Salad Fresh summer produce stars in this salad, along with strawberries and a balsamic dressing.
– Fall Frisee Salad Tart green apples and bitter frisee are balanced but a creamy dressing and sweet currants.
– Winter Cobb Salad A powerhouse of beets, blue cheese, walnuts and bacon over lettuce.
Spring Salad
Serves: 4
Time: 35 minutes
Ingredients
1.5 pounds gold potatoes
8 oz. asparagus
4 cups (half of a 5 oz. container) spring salad mix
2 tablespoons whole grain mustard
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 medium yellow onion (just under 1/2 cup)
extra salt and pepper to taste
Directions
1. Rinse potatoes, place in pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for about 20 minutes until fork tender. The potatoes can be made ahead and stored in the fridge until ready to use.
2. Meanwhile, make the dressing. Combine mustard, white wine vinegar, pepper, salt and onion powder in a bowl. Slowly add in olive oil while whisking everything together at the same time. Add minced yellow onion to dressing to mellow out the flavor.
3. Rinse and snap off tough ends of asparagus. Cut asparagus into 1.5 inch pieces
4. When potatoes are fork-tender, drain the potatoes to let cool.
5. Using the same pot, add a few inches of water to the pot and bring it to boil. Add the asparagus and cook until bright green, about 3 minutes. Drain and rinse with cool water.
6. Slice the cooled potatoes into quarters. Combine with asparagus, salad greens and dressing. Toss to coat. Drizzle with extra olive oil if desired and finish with salt and pepper to taste.