Strange Saladfellows

Asparagus. Goat cheese. Pine nuts. Strange bedfellows, or (as in this recipe) strange saladfellows! Indeed, but also quite delicious! Sometimes, the greatest challenge in developing a recipe is to work with what you have on hand, something like the Food Network's popular show, Chopped.

Dinner desperation is what I call the mood I was in recently. I was trying to roast a chicken for dinner (okay, easy) and use the asparagus in the fridge. Yes, steam, boil, grill--I know. I'd been there and done that earlier in the week, so while I'd be using the same vegetable (yet again) I wanted something different. What I realized is that I wanted the freshness of a salad, but I didn't have typical salad ingredients. That's when I realized, "Hello, Despina!" you can flash cook the asparagus, shock it in ice water, pat it dry and invent a salad with whatever else is in your refrigerator. Here's my recipe, at the other end of this link.

A salad is born so often in my kitchen from such a challenge. My family thinks that I'm the queen of salary (salad-making) so I have to try and live up to the title. Hopefully, you will deem this recipe worthy of a tiara on my head. Maybe?

A picture is worth a thousand words, so I'll stop writing and share my instructions in pictures.