Marinated Asparagus Salad

June and the farm is in full summer operation. The garden requires real time now — watering, weeding, monitoring — and I give it willingly. Early morning is when I do the serious work, before the heat builds, then again in the evening when it cools. The days have a rhythm to them that I find genuinely satisfying: coffee and the radio, out to the garden, the work of the farm, cooking something in the afternoon, the evening call with Sarah or the walk or the reading. A full day with a clear structure. There are worse arrangements.

Bill from Maine called last week — an actual phone call, the first after months of letters. He's seventy-two and his voice is the voice of someone who has spent a long time outside and a long time grieving and is making his way back. We talked for an hour about cooking and loss and Vermont and Maine and fishing and farming and the various ways you come to terms with being alone in a house that used to have someone else in it. He made his first pie last week. He said it was imperfect. I said: most first pies are. He said: when does it get better? I said: when you make the second one.

Made a cold cucumber and yogurt soup this week — the first truly summer dish, requiring produce that's only good now, that wouldn't work in any other season. Cucumbers from the garden, full-fat yogurt, dill, garlic, cold. Ate it on the porch in the heat. This is what the cucumbers are for.

Five weeks to the family visit. I've been counting without meaning to.

The cucumber soup came first that week — the dish I wrote about above, the one that finally felt like summer had arrived and settled. But there’s a second cold dish I keep coming back to when the garden is producing and the evenings are long: a marinated asparagus salad that asks almost nothing of you, requires no heat, and improves the longer it sits in the refrigerator. It’s the kind of recipe Bill and I were circling around when we talked — the idea that cooking for one, in the middle of summer, in a house with a working garden, doesn’t have to be complicated to feel earned. This is what I made later in the week. It kept well. I ate it two days running.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 5 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes (includes marinating) | Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 lb fresh asparagus, woody ends trimmed
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for blanching water
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup red onion, thinly sliced into half-moons
2 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon fresh dill, chopped (optional but recommended in summer)

Instructions

Blanch the asparagus. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the trimmed asparagus and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until bright green and just crisp-tender — it should still have some snap. Do not overcook.
Shock in ice water. Transfer the asparagus immediately to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Let it sit for 2 minutes, then drain and pat thoroughly dry with a clean towel. Dry asparagus absorbs the marinade better.
Make the marinade. In a small bowl or jar, whisk together the olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, garlic, salt, and pepper until well combined and slightly emulsified.
Assemble and marinate. Arrange the asparagus spears and sliced red onion in a single layer in a shallow dish or a zip-close bag. Pour the marinade over evenly, turning to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to overnight. Turn the asparagus once or twice if you remember.
Finish and serve. Remove from the refrigerator, arrange on a platter or in a shallow bowl, and spoon the accumulated marinade over the top. Scatter the parsley and dill over everything. Serve cold or at cool room temperature.

Nutrition (per serving)

Marinated Asparagus Salad — What the Garden Asks For in the Heat