The third and final part of my demo is raw asparagus salad. This is a brilliant way of enjoying asparagus. It almost tastes of fresh peas or beans. Eating asparagus raw means you can enjoy its crunch and subtle flavours. Don’t worry though, it’s far more elegant than shovelling whole spears in your face, it’s delicately peeled into thin strips with a very simple dressing.
You will need (for two):
A bunch of asparagus
Rapeseed Oil
Old Winchester (or Parmesan)
Juice of ½ lemon
Black pepper
Peeling the asparagus with a hand peeler is actually quite easy; you can attack it full force, bits of asparagus flying everywhere, and it seems to work pretty well. You could try it with a mandoline but I have too much affection for my fingers to try it.
Remove the woody ends of the asparagus but leave enough to hold on to. Peel the asparagus from stem to tip, keep the stems (non woody) for making into a soup, or if you’re really adventurous a soufflé or sorbet. Pile all your peelings into a bowl, drizzle over some rapeseed oil, lemon juice, pepper and a healthy shaving of Old Winchester. Old Winchester is our answer to Parmesan and if you’ve not tried it before it has a similar texture but a bit more bite and acidity.
This is such a simple salad and it delivers so much on flavour and texture; crunchy, fresh, slightly sweet asparagus with creamy, golden rapeseed oil and sharp, savoury cheese. The lemon juice lifts the salad with subtle citrus. An excellent dish on its own or one that could be mixed with pasta if you want something a bit more filling.
I have never had them raw before and this recipe really inspires me. Bookmarking.
Brilliant. Never tried asparagus raw, either created myself or in a restaurant. So this’ll be something completely new to me (in other words, must try it!).
Like Matthew, I’ve never tried Asparagus this way, but intend to…
We’ve had Old Winchester a couple of times. Lovely, but hard to find. We got it from a little shop in Alresford.
I love raw asparagus prepared this way! Brilliant.
I am very good with a mandoline but would still use a peeler for this.. Looks so good and healthy
I’ve never made a raw asparagus salad, but it looks amazing!!! I will put it on my to-do list..thanks for the inspiration, my friend!
I’ve never even considered eating asparagus raw. What a wonderful idea. Love that recipe and thanks for the inspiration.
Simple yet so full of flavor and healthy too! Will try this!
Looks delish. Now Old Winchester is a cheese I’ve not heard of. I’m a parmesan addict so must seek it out. A.
Just found your Blog and have really enjoyed looking through your recipes-especially these asparagus ones-look delicious and must try it raw now!
i’ve been wondering about raw asparagus! i’m definitely going to try this!
I always want to make this type of asparagus salad, it looks pretty. Bet with Parmesan and pasta, it would taste great.
We grow our own asparagus and it is best freshly picked and eaten! Truly amazing. Saving this recipe for next season