“During asparagus season, when I have almost overdosed on asparagus but just can’t stop eating it, I like to make this dish. But with asparagus available in the supermarket all year round, there’s no reason to limit using this recipe to springtime. If you’re not one of those hardy souls who grills all year round, you can broil the asparagus or use a grill pan.” ~ Shawn Farley, FAC Director of Marketing
Ingredients:
- 12 spears asparagus, trimmed
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- 2 cups quinoa
- 8 ounces aged goat cheese, shaved
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley leaves
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 5 nicoise olives
- 1 Roma tomato, sliced
- Parsley sprigs for garnish
To make the salad:
Heat grill. Brush asparagus with olive oil and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Grill on both sides until just cooked through, about 2 minutes on each side. Remove from grill and cut in half.
Bring 8 cups of salted water to a boil. Add quinoa and cook until soft. Drain and rinse with cold water and drain again. Place the quinoa in a medium bowl and add red wine vinegar, olive oil, parsley and 1/4 cup of olive vinaigrette. Stir to combine. Place on plate and top with goat cheese, asparagus, whole nicoise olives, sliced tomato and parsley sprigs.
To make the Black Olive Vinaigrette:
1/4 cup aged sherry vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon chile de arbol
1/2 cup pitted nicoise olives
1/2 cup olive oil
Combine vinegar, mustard, chili powder, olives and olive oil in a blender and blend until smooth.
