In my family, when we eat healthy, we eat really healthy. This means when the sunny season comes, no half-attempts at healthy eating and cooking, and virtually anything high-calorie, high-sugar content, or high-fat content comes off the shelves, out of the refrigerator and freezer, and we start over. It was out of vigorous food netwood-watching, the craving for asparagus (one of out favorite vegetables in this house), and a filling yet satisfying salad that this recipe sprouted out of. You’ll notice that the measurements are rough, well, because it’s a salad. Adjust as you like. The great thing about this recipe is that you can add any other vegetables you like—just chop and add! We’ve added extras such as mushrooms, and occasionally leave onions out if we’re not feeling the extra heat.
Ingredients:
Two bunches skinny asparagus, trimmed and chopped into thirds
Two bags of multi-colored peppers, (I usually find either baby size or medium sized peppers), remove seeds and chop into bite-size pieces
One box red grape tomatoes, sliced in half
One box yellow cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
One red onion, sliced (separated chunks or slices)
Two jars of marinated artichokes, kept whole or roughly chopped
One jar of roasted red peppers (you can roast them yourself, a jar is just easier)
At least 12 oz. of crumbled feta, preferably Athenos sun-dried tomato and basil
Lemon juice, four lemons if fresh, 1/2-2/4 C if bottled
Roughly two Tbsp olive oil, for sautéing
Two bags of multi-colored peppers, (I usually find either baby size or medium sized peppers), remove seeds and chop into bite-size pieces
One box red grape tomatoes, sliced in half
One box yellow cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
One red onion, sliced (separated chunks or slices)
Two jars of marinated artichokes, kept whole or roughly chopped
One jar of roasted red peppers (you can roast them yourself, a jar is just easier)
At least 12 oz. of crumbled feta, preferably Athenos sun-dried tomato and basil
Lemon juice, four lemons if fresh, 1/2-2/4 C if bottled
Roughly two Tbsp olive oil, for sautéing
Instructions:
1. Get a big sauté pan and add 2 Tbsp olive oil. Turn heat up to medium-high.
2. Cut the asparagus first. You’ll want to trim about two inches off of the bottom (I know this seems like a lot of vegetable to waste, but you’ll thank me when you’re not munching on fibrous asparagus ends). A trick is to take one stalk and bend it, and wherever it breaks is your marker for trimming the rest. Feel free to use this trick, it works!
3. After you’ve cut your asparagus into thirds, go ahead and drop it into your sauté pan. There should be a nice sizzle: that’s how you know you’re doing it right. Move that around a little bit and let cook. If you need to and are worried about your asparagus burning, turn the heat down slightly to medium. While the asparagus is cooking, prep the rest of your vegetables.
4. Start chopping your peppers. The amount of time it takes you to chop these should equate to the amount of time it takes for the asparagus to get slightly soft and bright green, which means it’s cooked. This is also a personal preference, I like my asparagus to be slightly mushy and caramelized, meanwhile Tess likes hers with a slight crunch to it still. Cook it to your heart’s desire. When you’re done chopping the peppers, go ahead and drop them in with the asparagus. I usually chop and dump as I go. Now, while the peppers cook with the asparagus, this should give you time to finish prepping everything else to go.
Tip: Don’t forget to occasionally shuffle your vegetables around so they don’t stick too much—whether it be by shaking the pan or using a spatula.
5. Slice tomatoes in half, drop them in a large bowl that’s big enough to fit all of these ingredients. Trust me, you want it to be huge so that you can mix them when everything is cooked and ready to be tossed together.
6. Drain marinating oil in artichokes, chop/drop them into said bowl.
7. Pull out roasted red peppers, roughly chop them and drop them in the bowl.
8. Chop onion, throw it in the bowl.
9. At this point, your peppers should be softened, but still crunchy (you don’t want mushy fresh peppers, the roasted red peppers and artichokes will provide enough crunch). I’ve ever been known to not cook my peppers at all. Again, personal preference.
10. Shuffle the whole kit and caboodle into the bowl. It’ll be hot, so be careful. Grab a huge spoon (or two) and toss together. Once that’s done, dump in the feta—all of it.
11. Pour lemon juice over everything, toss again. I don’t feel any need to add finishing olive oil to this, because once you pour in the sautéed asparagus and peppers into the bowl directly from the pan, all of the oil they’ve been cooking in along with that caramelized goodness gets tossed in the salad as well. Adjust lemon juice as you like.
12. Enjoy warm or chilled—the longer it sits, the better it gets!
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