A light, refreshing salad for springtime – asparagus pea and feta salad with lemon balm vinegar and fresh mint.
This month’s recipe redux theme is spring cleaning – going through your cabinets and kitchen to find those treasures that have been hanging out for a while and give them some attention. Sometimes I sit on these themes for a while and ponder about what I’ll make and other times I know immediately what I want to do. This was one of those themes where I knew exactly what I wanted to use.
Remember those DIY holiday vinegars I made last year? Well, it’s unfortunate that I made them when I did because I barely eat any salad during the winter months. So the vinegars sat in my fridge patiently waiting snow storm after snow storm for warmer temps and fresh spring vegetables.
Well, the time is finally here. The ice has all melted and I’m up to my ears in asparagus. So I made a simple, light salad topped with my homemade lemon balm vinegar. I love these herb vinegars. The lemon balm vinegar is slightly sweet with a bright lemon flavor. It tastes so refreshing paired with fresh mint and salty feta. YUM!
We paired this with slow cooked salmon and brown rice. And I might have had some cheesecake for dessert (recipe coming soon!) :).
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Asparagus Pea and Feta Salad with Lemon Balm Vinaigrette
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- Yield: Serves 6
Ingredients
- 1 bunch asparagus, tough ends removed, sliced in half
- 2 cups shelled English peas (or can sub frozen green peas)
- 1/2 cup feta cheese
- 1/4 cup fresh mint, chopped
- 1/2 tsp lemon zest
- 2 tsp lemon balm vinegar
- 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Bring salted water to boil in a large saucepan. Blanch peas for 1 minute and using a slotted spoon, transfer to an ice bath. Remove peas from ice bath and set aside.
- Boil asparagus for a few minutes until tender and transfer to the ice bath. Remove asparagus and set aside.
- In a bowl, combine asparagus, peas, mint, lemon zest, olive oil, lemon balm vinegar. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Notes
To make vegan-friendly, omit feta cheese.
I used frozen green peas because fresh English peas were nowhere in sight but ideally I’d have used fresh shucked English peas for this salad.
You May Also like
For more spring like salads, take a look at the recipes below:
For more spring cleaning inspiration, check out the recipes my fellow Reduxers created:
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Would be helpful to have a link to the vinegar recipe. I don’t see it any where or a way to search your site to find it. Thanks
Hey Valerie – so sorry about that! It looks like the recipe was deleted from my site. I’ll try to update this recipe soon so it’s more complete!
Made this for Easter Brunch. What a success! I did not have lemon balm vinegar so substituted lemon juice, and a bit ( 1/2 teaspoon) of agave syrup. All the flavors together meld so well. Delicious!
So glad you enjoyed this and I love the substitution!
Love how light and Spring-like this salad is! I agree with other commenters, I’m so curious about the dressing!
It’s so refreshing!!
Sorry to be picky, but whetever happened to punctuation? Your recipe should correctly be entitles ‘asparagus, pea and feta salad’ (spot the comma after asparagus?).
There is a legume known as the asparagus pea, you know.
eastshootshandleaves – Did you mean to say “Your recipe should correctly be ‘entitled’ instead of ‘entitles’…. I think your comment was mean and uncalled for as well as being grammatically incorrect.
Thank you Kara for sharing your recipe. You did not deserve this nasty comment for sharing something that was special.
Thank you, Maureen.
I am so glad it’s finally salad season again, this salad looks amazing! Spring on a plate 🙂 I’m intrigued by this salad dressing – I have been drinking lemon balm tea in the evening and I can’t get enough of it!
Yes! Bring on the salads! Oh, you’d probably LOVE this lemon balm vinegar then!
What a lovely present idea of homemade vinegars – glad you still have them around for lovely salads like these!
Thanks, Marisa! Me too 🙂
That looks delicous and something I would never think of putting together.
Thanks, Jen! Enjoy 🙂
Definitely need to go back to your homemade vinegars post and make one- I agree- I’m all about the salads in the warm months but rarely want them when its snowing outside!
Haha yes! That makes two of us, Jess!