Fresh snap peas, roasted asparagus, and sun-dried tomatoes tossed together in a spring mix salad with blood orange balsamic vinaigrette. Refreshing and healthy, this roasted asparagus and snap peas spring salad is the perfect way to start the spring.
Salads are absolutely perfect for this amazing spring weather. Not that we’ve had much of anything else here in California. But! It’s time to whip out ingredients for huge salads that will keep you satisfied and still healthy.
A few weeks ago, I posted a recipe for Citrus Salad with Blood Orange Balsamic Vinaigrette. Well, today, we’ll have different ingredients plus a vinaigrette for those of you who have no access to blood oranges. At the moment, that seems to include me. Sadly.
Last weekend, I was at the SF International Chocolate Salon. Yes, I still can’t get over all those amazing chocolates. I mentioned then that I came across a vendor Gourmet Blends, which sold different flavored olive oils and balsamic vinegar. Sampling the different types individually and mixing a few, I fell in love with the blood orange olive oil and their black currant balsamic vinegar. Together, they taste exactly like my blood orange balsamic vinaigrette.
So for those of you who can’t get fresh blood oranges, this might be a great solution for you. I’m not sponsored by or affiliated with Gourmet Blends, but I really do like their products. And you get them online for convenience.
This salad is absolutely amazing filled with all those spring ingredients that we love so much. Fresh raw snap peas give a slightly sweet and crunchy texture to the salad. Roasted asparagus add extra flavor. Sun-dried tomatoes give the salad a little tartness. If you like cheese or nuts, you can add those into the salad too. Toss all the ingredients together, then drizzle with blood orange balsamic vinaigrette, and you get one delicious salad with a hint of citrus, fit for spring. And my overenthusiastic stomach.
Preheat the oven to 400F. Place the asparagus on a baking pan and drizzle about a tablespoon olive oil over the asparagus. Even better? Garlic infused olive oil. Roast the asparagus for about 10-15 minutes depending on the size of the asparagus. Once they are tender, remove them from the oven and set them aside to allow them to cool.
While the asparagus are roasting, prepare the rest of the salad. Add the spring salad mix into a large bowl. Slice the snap peas in half lengthwise, then add them to the bowl. Drain the sun-dried tomatoes well before adding them.
Once the roasted asparagus are tender and cool, slice them into bite sized pieces and toss them with the salad.
In a small bowl, add the blood orange olive oil and thebalsamic vinaigrette. Or you can use my blood orange balsamic vinaigrette. No blood oranges? You can use an orange instead.
Drizzle the vinaigrette over the salad as needed.
Simple and barely any work needed to be done to make this gorgeous and refreshing salad.
Serve the salad cold.
Enjoy!
I’d love to see your photos! Tag photos of my recipes with #cookingwithawallflower and I’ll be sure to check them out!
Come join me and some of my blogger friends at Fiesta Friday where you’ll find tons of great recipes! This week’s link up is hosted by Selma @Selma’s Table and Margy @La Petite Casserole.
- ¼ pound asparagus stalks
- 1 tablespoon olive oil or garlic infused olive oil
- 4 cups spring mix salad
- 1 cup snap peas, sliced lengthwise
- ¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes, drained well
- ¼ cup grated fontina cheese (optional)
- 2 tablespoons blood orange olive oil
- 1.5 tablespoon black currant balsamic vinegar or regular balsamic vinegar
- Preheat the oven to 400F. Place the asparagus on a baking pan and drizzle olive oil or garlic infused olive oil over the asparagus. Place the baking pan into the oven and roast the asparagus for 10-15 minutes until the asparagus stalks become tender. The roasting time will vary depending on the size of the asparagus stalks. Once the asparagus stalks are tender, remove them from the oven and set them aside to cool.
- While the asparagus is roasting, prepare the rest of the salad. Place the spring mix salad into a large bowl with sliced snap peas, well drained sun-dried tomatoes, and other ingredients as desired.
- Once the asparagus are cooled, slice them into bite sized pieces before adding them into the rest of the salad.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the blood orange olive oil and black currant balsamic vinegar until well combined. Drizzle the vinaigrette over the salad to taste.
- Toss the salad until all the ingredients are well combined.
You can also use my Blood Orange Balsamic Vinaigrette instead.
Andrea, your photos are amazing! What type of camera are you using?
I’m using a Canon EOS Rebel T5 for all the posts from December forward. Everything before December was with an iPhone 4. Hope that helps!
Another lovely and original recipe! Thanks Andrea!
Hi Andrea, as co-host, please may I ask you to edit your entries to include the link and a mention to Angie’s Fiesta Friday #61 post – it ensures that you can be considered for a feature next week. Thanks!
Sorry about that! I thought I did, but it must not have gone through since I was editing through my iPad. I’ll fix it as soon as I can, Selma. Thanks!
I’m looking out at cloud-heavy skies and mountains still glittering with frost, but this recipe makes spring seem closer. Thank you!