Asparagus and blue cheese salad

ingredients

• Asparagus and blue cheese salad

  • 1/2 cup pine nuts
  • 20 spears asparagus, tough ends discarded
  • 1 regular chip strawberries
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 3 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon orange juice
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 100 gram blue cheese, frozen

method

• Asparagus and blue cheese salad

  • 1

    Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan until golden – careful as they burn quickly!

  • 2

    Cut the asparagus into 5cm lengths. Pour a jug of boiling water over them and leave to sit for 15-20 minutes. If they are thin spears, this will be enough to “cook” them. If they are thicker, drain once and redo with freshly boiled water. In preparing them this way, you get beautiful spears, still firm to the bite but soft enough without going soggy or losing their colour. Drain well and pat dry.

  • 3

    Quarter the strawberries and add to asparagus.

  • 4

    In a jar, shake the olive oil, vinegar, orange juice and black pepper together until well-mixed. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

  • 5

    Thirty minutes before serving, gently toss strawberries and asparagus and pine nuts in dressing. Transfer to a serving plate.

  • 6

    Just before serving, use a microplane or fine grater to shower the salad in frozen blue cheese.

notes

Freezing blue cheese then grating it using a microplane creates the most wonderful 'blue-cheese snow'.