Spring Asparagus Salad with Crispy Prosciutto

Spring Asparagus Salad with Crispy Prosciutto is the perfect spring harvest salad! With asparagus in season, this hearty salad can be lunch or dinner on its own, or the perfect side dish for Easter dinner! A fresh bed of salad greens is loaded with al dente asparagus, avocado, hard boiled eggs, goat cheese, oven-baked crispy prosciutto and a simple Lemon Herb Salad Dressing!

Why We Love It!

• It's Fresh, It's Light, It's Perfect for Spring! - When that first seasonal asparagus hits the stores, it feels like spring is right around the corner! We love asparagus, but only when it's in season! I haven't yet, but I'd like to start growing it in the garden. This salad brings out the best in that seasonal asparagus!

• That Crispy Prosciutto is Amazing! - Have you made crispy prosciutto before? This might make you want to make it all the time, it's delicious! Similar to bacon in a salad, crispy prosciutto adds a salty bite, and with hard boiled egg, it makes this salad hearty enough to be a meal on its own. Just 10 minutes in the oven, you might want to make extra! Store it in the fridge all week to add to salads, pastas, or crumble over egg salad!

Ingredients

For the Salad

• Baby Lettuce - I like to use a 4 to 5 ounce box of pre-washed lettuce mix for this salad. Really any greens will work, I like the arugula mix. I used the whole box for this salad but you can easily adjust the amount to serve any number of people.

• Asparagus - This salad is truly best when the spring asparagus is in season! Cooked perfectly to al dente, asparagus is the star! Just 2 minutes in boiling salted water makes it vibrantly green, still slightly crisp and never mushy!

• Eggs - Hard boiled eggs pair beautifully with asparagus and crispy prosciutto. They also add protein, making this salad a perfect light spring dinner.

• Prosciutto - Already a delicious ingredient, crispy prosciutto takes it to the next level! Salty, flakey and light, a salad with prosciutto is just the best! I like to buy prosciutto from the deli meat counter if they have it. You can get the exact amount you need, have them slice it thin and ask them not to put paper between each slice. Prosciutto is expensive per pound, but a little goes a long way, no need to be paying for paper!

• Goat cheese - Goat cheese adds incredible flavor and texture to this salad, but if you're not a fan, you can easily substitute feta or Parmesan cheese. I used a 4 ounce package and crumbled it on with a fork, not quite using all of it.

• Avocado - A creamy healthy fat, avocado is a salad favorite! Make sure your avocado is ripe, and add slices just before serving so they don't begin to brown.

• Red onion - A few slices of red onion add a nice sharp bite to balance the creamy eggs, avocado and goat cheese. If you don't like onion, you can simply leave them off, or add fresh chives, also in season in the spring.

For the Dressing

• Salt, Pepper, and Italian Seasoning - The simple seasonings in this Lemon Herb Salad Dressing. The salt and pepper in the dressing really are the seasoning for the whole salad, especially the egg and avocado need a bit of salt. The asparagus is salted when blanching and the prosciutto is naturally salty, so the dressing is enough to season the rest.

• Dijon mustard - Dijon acts as an emulsifier in a vinaigrette, holding the oil and acid (lemon juice or vinegar) together when they naturally want to separate.

• Honey - Adds a touch of sweetness to balance the acidity in the dressing.

• Lemon - I used all the juice from 1 fresh lemon. Measured, this was about 3 Tablespoons of lemon juice. You could also substitute white wine vinegar for this basic vinaigrette.

• Olive Oil - Essential in a vinaigrette, the amount of olive oil should be equal to or slightly more than the acid, the lemon juice in this dressing.

Instructions

Step 1 - This salad essentially has 3 components to cook (the egg, prosciutto and asparagus) before putting it all together. The process and time for cooking each component can overlap a bit as you go. Start by preheating the oven to 400° for the prosciutto. Cook your hard boiled eggs.

For Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs - Place eggs in a pot covering them with cold water by about an inch. Bring to a boil over high heat.  Right when they reach a boil, turn the heat off and cover.  Let them sit in the hot water for 17 minutes, set a timer!  Run under cold water, crack, peel and slice each egg into 6 or 8 wedges.

Step 2 - Lay your prosciutto slices on a baking sheet pan lined with parchment paper and bake for 10 to 12 minutes. They will crispy up as they cool.

Step 3 - Blanch the asparagus. Bring a sauce pan of water to a boil over high heat. Wash the asparagus and trim off the tough ends, about an inch or so cut off the bottom. Slice them in large pieces with a diagonal bias cut. Add ½ teaspoon of salt to the boiling water and drop the asparagus in for 2 minutes. The salty water seasons the asparagus, but don't worry, you aren't actually consuming all that salt as most stays in the water. Drain and reserve. Blanching in salted boiling water will give you vibrant green, al dente asparagus, still with a crisp bite and not mushy. This is the basic method for blanching any green vegetable, such as green beans or broccoli.

Step 4 - Make the Lemon Herb Salad Dressing. Combine all ingredients in a jar with a lid and shake well. You may not need all the dressing for this salad. You can store extra in the fridge for a month or more and use on any salad. Let it come to room temperature before using since the olive oil can solidify.

Step 5 - Assemble your salad on a large platter, starting with a bed of greens and then layering on the asparagus, goat cheese, egg, red onion, avocado and crispy prosciutto broken into pieces. You can do layers of each ingredients to distribute everything evenly. Drizzle with dressing and toss gently if you like.

Tips

• Storage - After dressing has been put on a salad, it doesn't keep very well, nor does sliced avocado. Keep this in mind when making up this salad for the number of people you are serving. You can make this salad ahead of time, any time during the day you plan to serve it, cover and keep in the fridge. If doing this, wait until serving to slice open your avocado and add your dressing.

• Meal Prep - This salad is great for meal prep, IF you keep all your components stored separately. That means, make up a batch of hard boiled eggs, blanch your asparagus, bake the crispy prosciutto, and make the dressing and store them all in separate containers in the fridge. With all this ready, it's quick and easy to throw a salad together for lunches all week.

• Substitutes - Remember, salads are versatile so feel free to tailor this recipe to your family! Bacon can be substituted for the crispy prosciutto or left off for a vegetarian salad. The onion is certainly optional and fresh chives could be used. A lot of people don't like goat cheese, feta or Parmesan cheese can be used in its place. And if you missed asparagus season, blanched green beans would be delicious too! Any store-bought vinaigrette dressing is also fine!

• Hard Boil Extra Eggs - When going through the trouble to hard boil 2 eggs for this salad, meal prepping a few extra for the week is always a good idea! Eat them for a snack with salad and pepper, make Egg Salad, or add them to Salmon Avocado Bagels or a Chopped Dinner Salad for an easy weeknight dinner!

• Make Extra Crispy Prosciutto - That crispy prosciutto is so delicious you might want to make a few extra slices! You can store them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week and re-crisp them in the microwave for just a few seconds. Add it to an egg sandwich, creamy pasta, crumble over pizza, salad, or on asparagus soup!

• Lemon Herb Salad Dressing - The dressing for this salad is a very basic vinaigrette that can be used for any salad. It's an easy, just-shake-it-in-a-jar gluten free dressing for salad that you can always have made in the fridge! Homemade vinaigrette keeps in the fridge for a month or more, so it's as easy as store-bought without the preservatives. You can substitute vinegar for the lemon juice (red wine, white wine or balsamic are great options). Add a quick salad to any weeknight dinner!

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