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Ribboned Asparagus Salad

Long after we stopped spending time in Point ‘O Woods on Fire Island during the summer Amanda would still go out for a week every summer to spend time with the friends she’d made there. She told me that one of her friends dads used to make this asparagus that was peeled into strips with a vegetable peeler almost every night and how much she loved it. When I saw Smitten Kitchen had a recipe for a salad like this posted the other day I had to try it.

I did not create this recipe or alter it at all from the original, I know. Weird. I was tired tonight and it’s been a very long week.


Ribbony Asparagus Salad with Lemon and Parmesan

From Smitten Kitchen who was Inspired by the Union Square Cafe

There are no exact measurements in this recipe. Everything is to taste, so taste as you go along to make sure you’re getting all the Parmesan, nutty, and lemony flavors you want.

1/4 cup pine nuts or sliced almonds, toasted* and cooled
1 pound asparagus, rinsed
1 lemon, halved
Olive oil
Coarse salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 to 2 ounces Parmesan cheese

No need to snap off the tough ends of your asparagus. Lay a single stalk on its side on a cutting board. Holding onto the tough end, use a vegetable peeler (a Y-shaped peeler is easiest, but I’ve used a standard one successfully) to shave off thin asparagus ribbons from stalk to tip, peeling away from the tough end in your hand. Discard the tough ends once you’re done peeling (or feed them to the chickens and goats).



Gently pile your ribbons on a medium-sized serving platter.



Squeeze some lemon juice over the asparagus,



drizzle it with a bit of olive oil


and sprinkle it with salt and pepper.


Toss gently.


Then use your peeler to shave curls of Parmesan right off the block, over the asparagus. Sprinkle with some toasted nuts. Repeat with remaining asparagus, a third of the remaining bundle at a time. Eat immediately.


* I toast mine in a single layer on a baking sheet at 350 for 5 to 10 minutes. It’s really important, especially with pine nuts, that you stay close and toss them frequently because they love to burn, but if you move them around a bit, you can get a wonderful, even coffee coffee color on them and an intensely nutty flavor. It makes even unfancy nuts taste amazing.

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Comments

  1. Lisa G says:

    Looks delicious.

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