A light, refreshing salad packed with seasonal greens, roasted asparagus, and a bright pesto lemon vinaigrette. Perfect as a side or a satisfying main with added protein!
Catch the full recipe and more on Episode 17 of Come On In, tune in every Tuesday across all my socials!!
The recipe:
Preheat oven to 400°F. Dice asparagus into bite-sized pieces.
Spread on a baking sheet and roast for 15–20 minutes until tender.
Rough chop up your butter lettuce, de-stem and chop your spinach, and dice your red onion.
In a dry pan over low to medium heat, toast walnuts for 5–7 minutes, tossing occasionally. Be careful not to burn them.
In a large bowl, combine lettuce, spinach, peas, roasted asparagus, basil, feta, and half of the toasted walnuts.
To create your Pesto Lemon Vinaigrette – in a blender or food processor, combine basil, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, walnuts (or pine nuts), and water.
Blend until smooth. Adjust consistency with more water if needed.
Drizzle the vinaigrette over the salad and toss to coat.
Reserve some of the dressing and some walnuts for garnish.
Plate the salad and top with diced avocado, extra feta, reserved walnuts, and a final drizzle of the dressing. Serve & Enjoy!
Green Spring Salad with Pesto Vinaigrette
Ingredients
For the Salad
- 2 cups packed butter lettuce rough chopped
- 2 cups packed spinach finely chopped & destemmed
- 1 ½ cups roasted asparagus diced
- 1 cup peas
- Handful of fresh basil leaves
- ¼ cup red onion finely diced
- ½ cup crumbled feta cheese
- ½ cup walnuts
- 1 avocado, to top
For the Pesto Lemon Vinaigrette
- 1 cup fresh basil stems included
- 2 –3 cloves garlic
- Juice of ½ a lemon
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons walnuts or pine nuts
- Splash of water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Dice asparagus into bite-sized pieces.
- Spread on a baking sheet and roast for 15–20 minutes until tender.
- Rough chop up your butter lettuce, de-stem and chop your spinach, and dice your red onion.
- In a dry pan over low to medium heat, toast walnuts for 5–7 minutes, tossing occasionally. Be careful not to burn them.
- In a large bowl, combine lettuce, spinach, peas, roasted asparagus, basil, feta, and half of the toasted walnuts.
- To create your Pesto Lemon Vinaigrette – in a blender or food processor, combine basil, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, walnuts (or pine nuts), and water.
- Blend until smooth. Adjust consistency with more water if needed.
- Drizzle the vinaigrette over the salad and toss to coat.
- Reserve some of the dressing and some walnuts for garnish.
- Plate the salad and top with diced avocado, extra feta, reserved walnuts, and a final drizzle of the dressing.
- Serve & Enjoy!
Video
