Guest Blogger Jeff Gordinier

    author Jeff Gordinier

     

    Listen, I get it. You’re stuck in the house. You’ve been cooking meals at home for months and months, by now, and your early surge of kitchen enthusiasm has begun to fade into numbness. You want to feed your crew healthful dishes, and you want to incorporate different flavors, but you’re drawing a quarantine blank — you can’t think of anything new to cook. The good news is that cookbooks are your friend.

    Flipping through a cookbook can help refresh the synapses and remind you of tastes and techniques you’ve been wanting to play around with. And we happen to be living through a golden age of cookbooks, especially volumes that overflow with innovative approaches to plant-based cuisine.

    You know that feeling when you’re standing in the produce aisle at the market, staring at the usual suspects and wondering how to hit the reset button? Well, give a great chef a vegetable and that chef can imagine something interesting and delicious to do with it.

    So, let’s ask the chefs.  Each week we’ll feature a delicious vegetable that you can always find at the market – along with a recipe from an acclaimed contemporary cookbook.

    The ideas are out there. It’s just a matter of giving them a try… this week, we’re featuring  a Shaved Asparagus Salad recipe from Bryant Terry’s Vegetable Kingdom.

    Asparagus are something to long for as the green season approaches: Raw slivers of asparagus matched with the earthiness of walnuts and the tang of lemons. Once again Bryant Terry proves to us that “vegan” and “flavorful” are not mutually exclusive. Spring is right around the corner.

     

    *Jeff has been a journalist for 30 years and is the author, most recently, of Hungry: Eating, Road-Tripping, and Risking It All with the Greatest Chef in the World. He has contributed to publications like The New York Times, Esquire, Travel + Leisure, Departures, Details, Elle, Entertainment Weekly, and Outside, and he has appeared on television shows like Chef’s Table and Somebody Feed Phil. Gordinier lives in Westchester County with his wife, Lauren Fonda, and his four children, Margot, Tobias, Jasper, and Wesley.

     

    Shaved asparagus salad from Bryant Terry’s Vegetable Kingdom

    Makes: 4 to 6 servings

    shaved asparagus salad on a plate

     

    There is something about the combination of asparagus and lemon that keeps me coming back for more. This is a quick and easy salad that helps you make the most of farm- fresh asparagus during its short peak season. I know you can probably get asparagus year- round, but you can’t beat the flavor of those beautiful stalks in April and May. The key to really killing this salad is using a mandoline or a vegetable peeler to slice the asparagus into delicate strips that easily soak up the dressing. If you can’t access Meyer lemons, Eureka or other varieties will work just fine. And feel free to experiment with other spring vegetables or with any number of shaveable vegetables such as beets, radishes, or fennel. I promise, everyone from your parents to your patnas will be smiling while eating this. (Bryant Terry)

     

    Ingredients:

    • ¹/₄ cup fresh Meyer lemon juice
    • 1 teaspoon minced shallot
    • ¹/₄ teaspoon whole- grain mustard
    • ¹/₂ teaspoon
    • minced garlic
    • 1 teaspoon raw cane sugar
    • 1¹/₂ teaspoons kosher salt, plus more as needed
    • 6 tablespoons walnut oil
    • Freshly ground white pepper
    • 2 pounds large asparagus
    • 1 Eureka lemon, cut in half
    • 1 teaspoon finely grated Meyer lemon zest
    • ½ cup walnuts, toasted and finely grated with a Microplane
    • ¼ cup chopped fresh dill

     

    Directions:

    1. In a blender, combine the Meyer lemon juice, shallot, mustard, garlic, sugar, and ¹/₂ teaspoon of the salt. With the blender running, slowly pour in the walnut oil through the hole in the lid. Taste and season with salt and white pepper. Set aside.
    2. Using a vegetable peeler, shave the asparagus into long, thin strips and transfer to a large bowl. Sprinkle the remaining 1 teaspoon salt over the asparagus, then squeeze the juice from the Eureka lemon over the top. Toss gently to combine.
    3. Add enough of the dressing to lightly coat the asparagus, drizzling it around the rim of the bowl to allow it to sink to the bottom. Gently toss to coat. Garnish with the lemon zest, grated walnuts, and the dill, then serve.