Asparagus salad, hazelnuts, lemon, capers
The arrival of locally grown new season’s asparagus is like a billboard announcing the demise of winter. As the weather slowly warms, the first purple tipped, green spindly spears transform into more robust asparagus, the flavour improves and the price drops.
Asparagus has a natural affinity with so many other flavours: salt, butter, cream and cheese, prosciutto, bacon and pancetta, chicken, fish and eggs, potatoes, capers and toasted nuts, oranges and lemon.
For this salad I chose salty capers, lively lemon zest and toasty hazelnuts to enhance my lightly cooked asparagus. The dressing is multilayered lemon, the deep and zesty tang of seasoned lemon infused olive oil and freshly squeezed juice.
400g fresh asparagus spears
zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons roasted hazelnuts
2 tablespoons capers
sea salt and black pepper
2 tablespoons lemon infused olive oil
juice of 1/2 lemon
Trim the tough ends off the asparagus.
Bring a pot of water to the boil and cook the asparagus for 3 minutes.
Drain, then refresh in iced in water.
Oven roast the hazelnuts until golden.
Allow them to cool then wrap the nuts in a clean tea towel and rub off the skins. Chop the nuts roughly.
Use a zesting tool to remove the zest from the lemon.
Drain rinse and squeeze dry the capers.
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and toss to combine.
Arrange on a serving plate.
Taste the dressing and season to taste.
Serves 6
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25 comments on “Asparagus salad, hazelnuts, lemon, capers”
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Please Pass the Recipe by Sandra Gay is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
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Love the capers and the hazelnuts! Brilliant!
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Thanks Mimi. They do work brilliantly together…
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I’m on a bit of a hazelnut craze at the moment – so yum! All those flavours and textures to go with the perfect vegetable.
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You’re right Deb, this salad’s a great combo of flavours and textures. It must be almost time for fresh hazelnuts in your neck of the woods. I used the last of my local hazelnuts with the first of the local asparagus.
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Yum, this sounds divine. I’m loving how cheap and abundant asparagus is at the moment!
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Thanks Gab. It’s hard to believe that not too many years ago asparagus was exotic, expensive and usually sourced in a can. Thanks goodness times have changed…..
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Wonderful! (And, a bit depressing as we head into winter…)
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The thought of asparagus might be depressing for you, but I have quince envy!
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Don’t think I’ve ever had asparagus with toasted nuts. Must try!
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They are a good combination Stefan, almonds work well too, but I particularly like hazelnuts with asparagus
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I’ve put it on my ‘to try’ list. Perhaps I’ll turn this into a pasta dish.
P.S. Did you notice I made gluten free bread? I thought you’d get a kick out of that š
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I am off to the Growers Market on Thursday and I am earmarking my asparagus for this delicious sounding dish.
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I hope you enjoy it Cheery, they are a great flavour combination
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Sounds lovely, but I’ve got quite a wait until ours is around…7 months or so!
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That time will pass before you know it Sue…..
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Oh, don’t! Time is passing too quickly already! š
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Looks delicious. Only six months until ours is ready.
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Don’t you just love seasonal produce Anne. Homegrown asparagus must be wonderful!
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Beautiful recipe, I love the addition of capers!
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Thanks Marie, that little salty bite goes so well in this salad….
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Yum, what a fabulous combination. I’m loving the fresh Australian asparagus around at the moment… so tasty š x
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I agree, it’s wonderful! I think you’d really like this combo Leah xxxx
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Reminds me of that salad we made last year for NYE. Bought asparagus today with the intention of making something like this one night this week š xxx
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