This nutrient rich microgreen salad recipe is tossed with blanched asparagus, tomatoes, and almonds and drizzled with a grapefruit vinaigrette.
Making A Perfect Microgreen Salad
Microgreen salads are important to think about textures and layers when eating and also when plating. Simple tips:
- Keep the microgreen salad and recipe toppings in different bowls.
- Toss each bowl separately with the vinaigrette so as not to smash the microgreens with the other ingredients.
Salad Dressing Tips:
When tasting the salad dressing, remember that the salt is going to be dispersed over a lot of ingredients. Salad dressing should taste salty, but when in doubt - under salt, you can always add salt to the lettuce if needed.
Don't like grapefruit? Cool, use any citrus (orange, lemon, lime) or buy your favorite pre-made salad dressing.
Blanching Asparagus For Microgreen Salads
Blanching means to throw vegetables in hot water for a limited time and promptly cooling them down fast in an ice water bath to stop the cooking process.
Blanched asparagus retains it's color and vibrancy and also keeps them crunchier.
Slice asparagus on the bias. This means diagonally It looks fancier and creates more surface area, which is more important when cooking.
Microgreen Salad Benefits
Microgreens are leafy vegetables or herbs that are harvested in the "cotyledon stage" or when the first two leaves appear.
They are packed with flavor and have nutritional benefits similar to the "adult version" of the plant.
Arugula microgreens taste like arugula but are much smaller and have a very delicate texture. Any microgreen will work for this salad recipe.
Serving Suggestion
Serve this Microgreen salad with pickled onions to give it a little extra "oompf." If you're looking for a light meal, choose the cold cucumber soup, but this also goes really well with a tomato tart or roasted eggplant.
You May Also Like
Like your greens? Check out these recipes:
Things In My Kitchen:
- Microplane zester - for zesting the grapefruit.
- Metal mixing bowls - I have the 1 ½, 3, and 4 quart. They're stackable and I prefer the flat bottom of the bowls for stability.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Microgreen Salad with Asparagus and Tomatoes
EatSimpleFood.com
This nutrient rich microgreen salad recipe is tossed with blanched asparagus, tomatoes, and almonds and drizzled with a grapefruit vinaigrette.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 6
- Category: Salad
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: International
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
Ingredient List Salad:
- 4 cups (~ 4 ounces) arugula microgreens
- ½ lb asparagus (this is usually ½ of 1 bunch)
- 2 small roma tomato, diced
- ½ cup (~ 2 ounces) slivered almonds, toasted
Ingredient List Dressing:
- 1 medium grapefruit, zested & juiced
- 2 tablespoon e.v. olive oil
- 2 tablespoon parsley, chopped
- pinch salt
- pinch black pepper
Instructions
Make the dressing or use a premade dressing:
- Add all salad dressing ingredients to a jar and shake. Add salt to taste.
Make the salad:
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil and bake almonds ~ 6-8 minutes or until fragrant and very lightly browned. Remove from pan to cool.
- Bring a pot of water to a boil. Blanch asparagus ~ 2 minutes (until tender but still a bit crisp), strain, and place in a bowl of ice water. You want them to retain a little crunch and bring out their vibrant color. Strain and dry quickly with a paper towel. Slice asparagus in 1" pieces.
Put the salad together:
- In a bowl, toss the microgreens with a little of the vinaigrette and place on plates.
- Add the asparagus, tomatoes and toasted almonds to the bowl and toss with desired amount of salad dressing.
- Add salt to taste.
Notes
- Don't have parsley stems? No problem! Leave them out - this is just what I had in my refrigerator at the time and adds a little more flavor and texture to the vinaigrette.
- Blanching means to throw in hot water for limited time and cool down fast in an ice water bath to stop the cooking process. This retains color and keeps them crunchier.
- When tasting the vinaigrette, remember that the salt is going to be dispersed over a lot of ingredients. It should taste salty, but when in doubt - under salt, you can always add salt to the lettuce if needed.
- Slice asparagus on the bias. This means diagonally It looks fancier and creates more surface area (which is not the reason for doing it in this case).
Leave a Comment