Asparagus and Macadamia Nut Salad

From The Adventurous Vegetarian, Jane Hughes, New Internationalist Publications, 2013.

This recipe comes from a book that investigates vegetarian recipes from around the world. Each country is represented by three or four recipes, some are true vegetarian dishes but others which come from places that have no history of vegetarian cuisine generally have been represented by modified meat recipes.

Each country comes with a two-page article on the country with insights into vegetarianism in that country. Each recipe generally has an interesting little piece of information about that recipe. I began with a recipe supposedly Australian. Its main claim to being from that country is that it includes macadamia nuts which are Australian.

Firstly a bunch of asparagus was placed in an oven-proof dish, sprinkled with a little olive oil and baked for 10 minutes in a 190ºC oven. It was then left to cool.

Some macadamias were put into a hot dry frying pan and roasted until brown bits appeared on them. They were then left to cool.

The salad was prepared by placing asparagus on the plate, scattering on the macadamias, some halved cherry tomatoes and some crumbled goat cheese.

A dressing made with the juice of half a lemon, salt, pepper and olive oil was dribbled over the vegetables.

Extra to the recipe I had made a crunchy topping by frying a clove of chopped garlic in some olive oil. As it began to soften a good handful of crumbled bread was added with lots of chopped parsley and some salt and pepper. This mix was tossed in the pan until it had crisped up. I sprinkled this over the salad.

This was an enjoyable, tasty salad—easy to make and even easier to eat.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔