Asparagus salad with potatoes, mushrooms and bacon! What a superb combination! Give this dish a go and you will see what I mean. Deliciousness!
Asparagus, potato, mushrooms, bacon! Waww! What a superb combination! Could it get any better?! No, I don't think so! For me this is pure perfection!
I have to say that asparagus is such a nice vegetable and the beauty of it is that you can now find it in shops almost all year round. It's a spring veggie, so if you wish to just have it in season, spring is the time to look for and cook asparagus but I don't mind it out of season either. In my household a lot of asparagus gets munched.
How lucky are we that nowadays you find such a range of veggies all throughout the year which is absolutely great!
a good asparagus salad is a bonus
They are quick to prepare, healthy and can be super versatile with endless combo possibilities. You just have to get courageous and creative.
I make this salad quite often and I slightly change the ingredients, depending on what I have and what I fancy that day but mainly because I truly enjoy trying new stuff all the time.
I'm lucky my kids do eat everything I cook, and I don't need to cook special foods for them. Truthfully though, I wouldn't be prepared to do that anyway, they need to eat what is there as I cook pretty healthy stuff so why fussing around?! ? I’m saying this but I do realise I’m lucky as children are more and more such fussy eaters now, it is incredible with a great number eating so unhealthily.
Starter or a main....
This dish makes both an amazing and joyful starter as well as a main. We just love it and enjoy its taste every time it's on the table.
It is not a pretentious dish at all and this is what I like about cooking this kind of food in general. It's quick, it's tasty, it's healthy and it can be served all throughout the year, what else could I wish for?
A salad like this ticks all the ‘boxes’ for me! Yes, it looks great too - I really love colours, many, many colours on my plate will greatly cheer me up, and this dish offers exactly that.
Enjoy it too folks!
Let's start cooking then, shall we?!?!
Potato and roast asparagus salad
Equipment
- chopping board
- knife
- ovenproof dish
- pot
Ingredients
Preparing the salad:
- 200 g salad (rocket and spinach, lamb's lettuce or cress)
- 450 g asparagus
- 250 g mushrooms
- 400 g baby potatoes
- 16 cherry tomatoes (on vine)
- 8 rashers bacon (thick cut) (or 200 g gammon)
- 80 g blue cheese (Gorgonzola, Danish Blue, Stilton or Roquefort)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Preparing the vinaigrette:
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 2 tbsp cider vinegar
- 1 tsp seeds mustard
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp honey
- 2 tbsp salad cream
- 1/2 lemon juice
- 6-8 radishes (to decorate)
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 190 C, 375 F or Gas mark 5.
- Place a pot with water on medium heat.
- Wash the salad and all the veggies: asparagus, tomatoes, mushrooms and potatoes as well as the radishes.
- Put the washed potatoes into the boiling water and boil them for approximately 6-7 min.
- Meanwhile, prepare the asparagus further by snapping the woody ends.
- When the potatoes are done drain and cut in halves. They do not need to be fully boiled but rather just slightly soft on the outside 2/3 boiled so they finish baking at the same time with the rest of the veggies).
- Prepare an oven tray, lay in the asparagus (in one layer) the tomatoes you could place next to or on top of the asparagus and also the halved pre-boiled potatoes. Drizzle as much olive oil as you wish but I recommend no more than 1-2 tbsp.
- Place the tray in the preheated oven and bake for 30-35 min or so. Keep an eye on the asparagus so this doesn't dry too much or burn.
- While the veggies are in the oven, cut the mushrooms into slices and cook in a pan over medium heat with one tbsp olive or 1/4 tsp coconut oil added towards the end of the cooking after all water has evaporated. Season with a little salt and pepper.
- Cook the bacon or gammon (cut into small chunks/ slices) and fry in a pan or place into the oven and bake it for about 25-30 min.
- Prepare the vinaigrette by gathering all its ingredients into a jar. Place the lid on and shake the life out of it. It will become the best ever vinaigrette - in fact I never buy any salad dressing and I always make my own as I wish. I will come back one day with one page dedicated to just salad dressings all sorts.
- Take out the serving plates and start arranging your ingredients by placing the salad first then scatter around a bit of all ingredients, the potatoes, asparagus, bacon/gammon and the tomatoes.
- Drizzle your beautiful dressing (about 2-3 tbsp) over and finish by scattering few slices of nicely and finely sliced radishes.
- Best is to serve it warm and if you choose to use the cheese, make sure you add some little crumbs or lumps straight away to have it slightly melted. Yumm!! ??
Notes
Enjoy, Enjoy, Enjoy!Nutrition
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