Another one of our favorite Spring foods is asparagus. (Well, one of Eric’s favorites.) We eat it year round, but those pencil thin stalks are most often found in the Spring. We’ve been taking advantage of the abundance of those slender stalks (and the great prices!) and eating asparagus a few nights a week. With so much of it available, I’ve been experimenting with more ways to serve it than just steamed or roasted.
For a recent dinner, I made an avocado & buttermilk sauce to go over the asparagus. The sauce was easy to make and it went well with the asparagus, but it also made a great dressing for salad. If I had to say anything negative about this sauce, it would have to be that the dressing has a short shelf life. When using a whole avocado and a cup of buttermilk, you really do need to cook the full amount of asparagus stated in the recipe or plan on eating a lot of salad to use the dressing up within a few days of making it. Even though the avocado is mixed up in the dressing, the mixture starts to look kind of brown after a few days in the fridge. But with such a bright and tasty dressing, finding additional uses for it wasn’t a problem for us!
Asparagus with Avocado-Herb Dressing
Asparagus with Avocado-Herb Dressing (adapted from cookinglight.com) Total Time Required: 10 minutes, Serves 8
Ingredients:
- 2 pounds fresh asparagus, trimmed
- 1 ripe avocado, sliced
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, divided
- 1/4 cup sliced fresh chives, divided
- 1 1/2 ounces goat cheese
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 3/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
- ground black pepper
Instructions:
Steam asparagus for 6-10 minutes depending on their thickness, until they are crisp-tender. Remove them from the the steamer basket. Arrange the asparagus on a platter.
Combine the avocado, buttermilk, half of the basil, half of the chives, the goat cheese, vinegar, white pepper, salt, and sugar in the cup of a wand blender or a food processor.
Combine the ingredients for the dressing.
Process the mixture until it is smooth.
We love the wand blender to mix things like this up!
The avocado turns the dressing a nice bright green color!
Top the asparagus with the dressing, and the remaining basil and chives. Grind some black pepper over it all, if desired.
Pour the dressing over the asparagus
Another Spring dish!
We love this versatile dressing! ~Linda
Asparagus with Avocado-Herb Dressing (adapted from cookinglight.com) Total Time Required: 10 minutes, Serves 8
Ingredients:
- 2 pounds fresh asparagus, trimmed
- 1 ripe avocado, sliced
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, divided
- 1/4 cup sliced fresh chives, divided
- 1 1/2 ounces goat cheese
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 3/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
- ground black pepper
Instructions:
Steam asparagus for 6-10 minutes depending on their thickness, until they are crisp-tender. Remove them from the the steamer basket. Arrange the asparagus on a platter.
Combine the avocado, buttermilk, half of the basil, half of the chives, the goat cheese, vinegar, white pepper, salt, and sugar in the cup of a wand blender or a food processor. Process the mixture until it is smooth.
Top the asparagus with the dressing, and the remaining basil and chives. Grind some black pepper over it all, if desired.