What’s summer without an asparagus salad or two? Dream partnership with crispy bacon, obviously, and kūmara (or use potatoes if you like) for the base. The mustard dressing is the perfect way to tie the ingredients together.
Ingredients
1kg orange kūmara, peeled and diced about 2cm square
2 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon Man Rub
¼ cup toasted walnuts
250g streaky bacon
½ punnet cherry tomatoes
1 bunch of asparagus
1 handful rocket leaves
Mustard Dressing
¼ cup sour cream
⅓ cup Colonel Mustard dijonnaise mayo
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
To garnish
Shaved parmesan
Chopped chives
Directions
Preheat the oven to 180ºC fan bake.
Place the kūmara in a bowl with the oil and Man Rub. Toss well to coat.
Arrange in a single layer on a baking tray and bake for about 25 minutes until it’s nice and tender but not squishy.
Meanwhile, prepare the other salad ingredients.
On a second tray, spread out the walnuts in a single layer and toast for about 8 minutes. Cool and then roughly chop.
Slice the streaky bacon into 2.5cm pieces and fry in a pan until super crispy.
For the mustard dressing, mix the sour cream and Colonel Mustard until smooth, then add the lemon zest and juice.
Half the cherry tomatoes.
Trim the asparagus and cut the spears into 2.5cm pieces, blanch in a pot of boiling water for 2 minutes, then plunge into iced water (this stops the cooking and keeps them bright green).
When the kūmara is cooked and cooled, add the dressing to coat well. Layer the saucy kūmara with the crispy bacon, rocket, asparagus, walnuts and cherry tomatoes.
Garnish with chopped chives, shaved parmesan and the asparagus tips.
