You Should Make a Broccoli Salad but With Asparagus
I’ll never turn my back on a picnic salad topped with mayonnaise, be it chicken, egg, tomato , or broccoli, but I’m ecstatic to see a good broccoli salad at lunch. My favorite broccoli salad is a bit kitschy: it has mayonnaise (of course), but also bacon, red onion, cheddar cheese, a dash of red wine vinegar, and maybe some candied pecans and/or cranberries. And this is very good. But broccoli isn’t the only green vegetable that looks best in kitsch. Asparagus loves to be treated with mayonnaise, bacon and cheese.
You don’t have to be a nutritionist or even a food writer to understand why this works. Mayonnaise, bacon, and cheese can make just about anything delicious, and like broccoli, asparagus is one of those vegetables that tastes pretty good already. However, seasonal asparagus has a slight advantage over broccoli. It’s a little sweeter, a little softer, a little sunnier – whatever you want in a picnic salad.
Before we get to the recipe, a little note: whether you’re making this type of salad with broccoli or asparagus, please blanch your green vegetables for the sake of it all. Really raw vegetables can feel a bit rubbery on the teeth, and blanching takes that edge off and makes them greener while still retaining a fresh flavor. All you need for blanching is a large pot of simmering water, but for very thin and tender vegetables, I prefer to pour water over plant parts rather than immersing them in water.
Either way, you don’t need a recipe to apply the broccoli salad philosophy to asparagus. You can go to AllRecipes and type in “broccoli salad” and follow the recipe except for substituting asparagus for broccoli. But I have the recipe because I wanted to eat the asparagus broccoli salad, so I can share what I came up with.
How to cook asparagus broccoli salad style
Ingredients:
- 1 pound asparagus (I like to use thicker stems for this)
- 6 strips of bacon
- 1/2 cup chopped red onion (about half an onion)
- 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- Salt and pepper
- Candied pecans and/or dried cranberries
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Prepare an ice bath and set it aside. While the water is heating, fry the bacon. You can cook whole strips in a pan or oven and then crumble them, or you can cut them up and toss them in a deep fryer at 375℉ for 7-10 minutes.
Once the water boils, submerge the asparagus for a minute or two until it turns bright green. (The time depends on the thickness of your asparagus.) Remove from the pot and plunge into an ice bath. Let cool for 5-10 minutes until the asparagus is completely cool. Slice across (diagonally) and place in a large bowl.
Add bacon, onion, cheese, mayonnaise and vinegar and mix everything together. Taste, season with salt and pepper, taste again and adjust if necessary. Add a large handful of candied pecans and/or cranberries and stir again. Garnish with more candied pecans and/or cranberries, then eat. This salad will keep in the fridge for a couple of days, but before serving, let it warm up a little on the table. (I just ate some for breakfast.)