Spring Salad with Brown Butter Viniagrette

By rebecca78

The dressing may solidify a little when you toss it with the blanched veggies. I just warmed it up for a few seconds in the microwave to turn the butter back into liquid. It didn’t really warm the veggies, just liquified the butter again.

Use the leftover dressing on any other salad, it’s just too good to waste.

Try this salad with any veggies that are in season. The first ones that come to mind are green beans, those would be excellent in here too!

Ingredients

• Brown Butter Vinaigrette:
• 2 cups frozen peas
• 2 cups sugar snap peas
• 1 bunch asparagus (anywhere from 1/2-1 lb)
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preparation

Step 1

Heat a large pot of water on the stove.

In a large bowl, add ice cubes and water. This is the ice bath to shock the veggies after you quickly boil them. Put a strainer over the bowl to easily remove the veggies when they’re done. Dump the frozen peas into the strainer in the ice bath.

Snap the ends off the snap peas. Discard the ends and set the pea pods aside.

Trim the ends off the asparagus and cut the asparagus into 1-2 inch long pieces. If your asparagus are super thick, slice them in half lengthwise.

Add the snap peas and asparagus to the pot of boiling water. Boil for 30 seconds. Scoop out of the boiling pot and immediately dump them into the strainer in the ice bath. Allow them to cool in there for a few minutes.

Scoop the veggies out, pat them dry, toss with the vinaigrette.

Use as much or as little dressing as you want. You won’t use the entire batch.

Brown Butter Vinaigrette:

Brown the butter over medium-low heat until foaming slows down and the color is brown and you can smell a nutty aroma. If you can’t smell that, you haven’t browned it enough. It takes about 5-7 minutes. But be careful, it goes from perfect to burnt pretty fast.

Remove the pan from heat and pour into a small mixing bowl, let cool slightly.

Add the olive oil and whisk well. Then add the vinegar and honey; mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Store the dressing at room temperature for a couple of days. It can be stored in the fridge for longer, just heat it up slightly before using since the butter solidifies when it’s chilled.