Asparagus always lets us know spring is truly here. We recommend making it to the market to get the freshest asparagus as you won’t have to snap off the bottoms that become fibrous with age. We think it is great roasted but love this cold version that you can prepare ahead of time to wow your guests. The mint salsa verde with meyer lemon and capers is just there to dress the asparagus and bring out that inherent sweetness. But just properly cooked asparagus with olive oil and flaky sea salt is fantastic.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. asparagus from Zuckerman Farms or Full Belly Farms if possible
- 1 Shallot
- 2 Tablespoons Capers
- 2 each meyer lemons
- 2 bunch mint picked
- 1 bunch parsley picked
- ¼ cup olive oil
Instructions
Bring 6 quarts of salted water to a boil, while waiting for water to boil clean bottoms off of asparagus by snapping away the fibrous ends. If freshly bought at the farmers market this is less of a concern and just trimming a bit off the bottom should get rid of any fiber.
Make an ice bath. Put asparagus in boiling water and boil for 3 minutes until tender. Scoop out and put in ice bath for 10 minutes to stop cooking. Drain from ice bath and plate on plate with paper towels in fridge to dry and keep cool
Brunoise, or cut as small as possible one shallot, put in mixing bowl. Chop capers and put in mixing bowl with shallots and 1 Teaspoon salt to season shallots.
Peel and dice zest from two meyer lemons or use a zester. Either way, the peeled version has larger pieces of lemon that look nice, the zested way has the lemon zest mix in better. Both ways are great! Juice lemons and add zest and juice to capers and shallots
Pick mint and pasrsley and chop as fine as you can. Mix into shallot caper and lemon and add olive oil.
Taste and add more salt, lemon or olive oil to make it delicious.
Plate asparagus and drizzle sasa verde over the top