Three years ago I bought 10 asparagus crowns, followed all the advice, planted them, then waited the three years everyone says. So this year I was expecting to spend the early summer season picking and eating beautiful spears of home grown asparagus. Well things didn’t quite work out that way and this is what I ended up with.
So I’ll wait another year. In the meantime I bought some and made this.
Asparagus and buffalo mozzarella salad with a pesto dressing
for two people
1 bunch of asparagus – snap along the stem to remove to woody parts
2 large handfuls of mixed salad leaves
1 ball of buffalo mozzarella – sliced
2 ripe tomatoes – diced
A handful of olives
1 teaspoon pesto – home made or shop bought
good few glugs of extra virgin olive oil
Lemon juice
extra olive oil for frying
Heat a frying pan, add the oil then fry the asparagus over a medium heat until slightly charred and tender. Remove from heat add a little salt and a little lemon juice.
Arrange the leaves, diced tomato, olives and sliced mozzarella on 2 large plates.
Mix the pesto with olive oil and lemon juice. Drizzle over the salad.
Place the cooked, still warm asparagus on top of the salads.
Serve with a crusty roll or flatbreads.
