Asparagus & Blue Cheese Potato Salad

How lovely it is to see the signs of spring! Hello, Dear Readers. How are you on this fine day?

The farm is beginning to show little signs of color. We have iris and daffodils poking their first shoots out of the ground, and the rhubarb has been trying its hardest to grow even though the days have been rather chilly. I noticed little green leaves on the ends of the lilac bushes yesterday while I walked my son out to the school bus, and we squealed with joy at the sight of them. I was very much more inclined to share all of the little wonders with nature with my oldest son when he was a baby and a toddler. Not that I do not want my other children to feel the same way, but if you have multiple children you will understand that life becomes a bit more jumbled and you somehow forget to do all of those little firsts… but I still try!

It was so sweet, on a warm day that we enjoyed recently, to watch him teach his younger brother how to open a milkweed pod and let the seeds fly away in the wind. I was poking about in the apple trees, not really paying much attention to what they were doing, when I heard Tad say, “See… that’s how you make more flowers. Now we say goodbye! Go grow somewhere else!” and my goodness… My heart could not take the preciousness! Then they immediately went back to wrestling in the grass. Ha!

I have been wanting to add more fresh foods to our recipe list here on the blog, but I do not always have the best time developing salad recipes. Not that I do not love a really good salad. I absolutely do, and I think many of you would be surprised to learn that I eat quite a bit of plant based foods in comparison to what we share here. I also eat a lot of chips and salsa! Ha!

Back to salads… I wanted something that was fitting for the season, but felt like it could be a full meal or a really beautiful side dish rather than a salad in a bed of greens. Then came the idea for a fresh take on potato salad. I love a good grandma’s potato salad any day, but this potato salad is really more like a green salad than a creamy potato salad. It has lovely fresh spring ingredients like asparagus, peas, and radishes. We garnished it with blue cheese, pea shoots, and colorful pansies. It feels like the spring garden just burst onto the plate!

the method:

There is a bit of planning when it comes to this salad. As it is a cold salad, the vegetables and soft boiled eggs need to be cooked ahead of time and then go through a chilling period. The vegetables are blanched, meaning they are boiled for a short time and then immediately plunged into ice cold water to stop them from cooking further. You want them to be tender but not overly soft.

Then, after chilling, the salad is assembled and the dressing is applied. I have never liked making potato salad where the potatoes become mashed as you mix them with the dressing, so make sure that your taters are nice and cold if you would like them to resemble whole potatoes!

As for the garnishes, you can really use anything that you like. Other microgreens would be lovely if pea shoots are not available to you. I loved how the pea shoots paired with the whole peas. I wish that I had pea pods of my own, but those would be so pretty, too!

Are you growing a garden this year? Mom and I still have yet to get much of anything started in the greenhouse. We had a terrible tornado blow through the countryside a few days ago, and we were very lucky to not have damage here. Many others were not so fortunate. Now that the weather is turning, I think we may need to pull up our bootstraps and get outside to plant the brassicas, tomatoes, and peppers. Sometimes the hardest part about doing something is getting started!

I hope that you enjoy this fresh take on a potato salad. Let me know if you give it a try!

xoxo Kayla

Asparagus & Blue Cheese Potato Salad

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Yield: 8

Author: Kayla Lobermeier

Prep time: 1 HourCook time: 15 MinTotal time: 1 H & 15 M

Ingredients

Roasted Garlic Dressing:

• 4 heads garlic
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) neutral salad oil such as avocado or canola, divided
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) white wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp (30 ml) heavy cream
• 1 tbsp (15 ml) fresh lemon juice
• 1 tbsp (15 ml) honey
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

Asparagus & Blue Cheese Potato Salad:

• 6 large eggs
• 2 lbs (907 g) baby gold & russet potatoes
• 1 lb (454 g) asparagus, ends trimmed
• 1 cup (160 g) fresh or frozen peas
• 4 oz (104 g) fresh radishes, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup (30 g) crumbled blue cheese
• 1/4 cup (15 g) pea shoots
• 1 tsp flaky sea salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• Fresh pansies, for garnish

Instructions

To make the Roasted Garlic Dressing:

1. Preheat the oven to 425° F (218° C). Set aside a small baking dish and line it with a piece of aluminum foil.
2. Slice off the very tops of the heads of garlic, exposing the cloves inside. Place the cloves on the piece of foil and drizzle with about 1/4 cup (60 ml) of the oil. Enclose the cloves in the foil. Roast the garlic in the preheated oven for about 25 to 30 minutes or until the cloves are soft and easily mashable. Let them cool down until you are able to handle them.
3. Once the garlic has cooled, squeeze or remove the cloves from the skin with a fork. Place the roasted garlic, remaining 1/4 cup (60 ml) oil, mayonnaise, vinegar, lemon juice, honey, salt, and pepper into a food processor or blender. Pulse the ingredients until they are completely smooth, making a creamy dressing about the consistency of a vinaigrette.
4. Store in the dressing in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to use.

To make the Potato Salad:

1. Begin by soft boiling the eggs. Set aside a medium bowl of ice water. In a small saucepan, cover the eggs fully with water. Set the pan over high heat and bring the water to a boil. Once at a full, rolling boil lower the heat to a simmer and simmer the eggs for 1 minute. With a slotted spoon, gently lift the eggs from the hot water and place them into the bowl of ice water. Once the eggs have cooled enough to handle, about 5 minutes, place them into a dish and refrigerate them. I like to wait for at least 1 hour before peeling, as this cold shock helps the shells to peel right off! You may choose to peel them earlier. Either way, you will have a soft boiled egg.
2. Next, blanch the vegetables. You will want 1 to 2 large bowls of ice water, and 2 large pots for boiling the vegetables. If you do not have 2 pots, you will have to rotate your blanching. Bring the large pots of water up to a boil. To one pot, add the baby potatoes. To the other pot, add the asparagus. Boil the potatoes about 15 minutes and boil the asparagus about 8 to 10 minutes. You want the vegetables to be just soft, but not overly cooked where they are falling apart.
3. Immediately transfer the hot vegetables to the bowls of ice water and let them cool down to stop cooking. Meanwhile, follow the same procedure with the peas, boiling for about 4 to 5 minutes or until they are just soft. Plunge them into the ice water.
4. Drain the vegetables and place them all in a large bowl. Cover and refrigerate the vegetables until they are very cold.
5. When everything has been chilled, assemble the salad. Arrange the potatoes (smashed or cut in half), asparagus, peas, radishes, blue cheese, pea shoots, salt, pepper, and pansies on a serving platter. Drizzle with the Roasted Garlic Dressing or serve it on the side.
6. Store this salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for about 5 to 7 days.

Notes

After I put this recipe together, I realized that some bacon crumbled would probably taste lovely! If you are so inclined, try adding bacon.

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