A stunning spring salad with LOTS of umami, including chive flowers, fresh dill, roasted mushrooms, asparagus and cauliflower, fresh cherry tomatoes, red onion, avocado and a creamy homemade bacon dill ranch dressing (that you can easily make completely vegetarian!)
Salad Inspiration
I was inspired to make this salad by my friend Carole, who is a long-time yoga friend and fellow music lover, but also a beautiful lady (inside and out). Carole raises chickens and so many other animals, rescues squirrels, collects and creates interesting art and always has a big lovely garden in the summer! Carole is also my “egg lady” and she’s been supplying my family with farm fresh eggs for years. She used to bring the eggs to yoga class, back when there was yoga that we attended multiple times a week at our favorite studio, but now I drive out to her lovely farm to pick them up. During the worst of COVID, for many months, the only person I saw in person that I actually knew was Carole … traveling to her farm was the one place outside of my home where I felt safe, and I felt good just getting out of the house and GOing somewhere.
Last time I visited Carole to get eggs, she let me hold a little baby squirrel (named Merle) that she rescued! And then she took me out to her pretty garden and snipped off a bunch of greens and pulled out some radishes (with greens) and sent me home with a treasure trove of amazing FOOD. I couldn’t WAIT to eat the perfect farm-fresh eggs … I love how the yolks are always such a vibrant orange yellow and the flavor! Out of this world good. I sampled some of the fresh greens she gave me and they also tasted SO good … she gave me butter lettuce, escarole, spinach and baby kale.
Salad Pairings
I paired all the lovely things from Carole with fresh asparagus from my mom and dad’s garden, some leftover roasted cauliflower from my fridge, along with cherry tomatoes, mushrooms and avocado that I had on hand. The dill grows in cracks in the sidewalk and I have chives that happened to be in bloom at the time! Chive flowers are so pretty and flavorful, but if you don’t have chive flowers, don’t worry … just use fresh snipped chives. Whatever you do, don’t skip out on the fresh chives and dill, if you can help it! I think the fresh herbs make such a difference in the flavors of this salad. Also, I do recommend fresh garden (or farmer’s market) greens if you can get them. Your taste buds (and your body) will thank you.
How can Bacon Dill Ranch Dressing be vegetarian?
You might be wondering how you can make BACON dill ranch dressing vegetarian … without bacon? Last time I checked, bacon is meat and vegetarians don’t eat meat. I’ll let you in on the secret: you use Bacon Salt that is completely vegetarian and certified kosher. I found and purchased mine on Amazon (and if you decide to purchase some as well, I will earn a very small commission that will go towards the costs of running this blog). I am only recommending this bacon salt because I seriously love the taste. It really DOES taste like bacon, but strangely, it’s not super salty. So if you go this route, then make sure you taste the dressing and add salt if you think it needs it.
There is also such a thing as vegan bacon bits, which I honestly have not tried, but they look interesting.
If you aren’t worried about keeping your salad vegetarian and you want to make your own bacon salt, you totally can! I have a marvelous recipe for bacon mushroom salt made with real bacon and dried mushrooms (I used dried morels, but other dried mushrooms work as well).
By the way, the salad ingredient list LOOKS long, but that’s only because I included all the ingredients for all the things that go into the salad. Because of minimal cook time and multi-tasking, this salad comes together quite quickly, but you can totally make the dressing (and even roast the veggies) ahead of time, so it’s just a few minutes of prep time to dig into a flavorful, fabulous summer salad.
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Roasted Mushroom Asparagus Salad
Description
A stunning spring salad with LOTS of umami, including chive flowers, fresh dill, roasted mushrooms, asparagus and cauliflower, fresh cherry tomatoes, red onion, avocado and a creamy homemade bacon dill ranch dressing (that you can easily make completely vegetarian!)
Ingredients
For the roasted mushrooms & asparagus:
- 8 oz. fresh asparagus spears, cleaned, trimmed and cut into chunks
- 4 oz. baby bella mushrooms, cleaned and cut into halves or quarters
- Olive oil (in a sprayer, or you can use a little drizzle)
- Red Robin Seasoning (or your favorite seasoned salt) and Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute (or your favorite no-salt seasoning)
For the bacon dill ranch dressing:
- 1/3 cup plain yogurt
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise (light or regular) – recommend a mayo that has heart healthy fats like avocado oil
- 1/4 – 1/3 cup milk
- 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon Italian Seasoning, crumbled
- 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon bacon salt (or to taste)
- 1/4 teaspoon sugar
- fresh snipped dill, to taste
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- optional: crumbled bits of bacon
To assemble the salad:
- Fresh mixed greens
- Leftover roasted cauliflower (optional – recipe here)
- Cherry tomatoes, halved
- Red onion, sliced thin and roughly cut
- Ripe avocado, sliced or cut into chunks
- Chive flowers (if available) and/or snipped chives
- Small sprigs of fresh dill
- 1 – 2 eggs, per person (preferably farm fresh eggs … they taste so much better and they’re better for your body)
Instructions
- Make the dressing by whisking together all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Toss the mushrooms and asparagus with oil and seasonings, then air fry at 380 F. in the air fryer for 6-8 minutes or roast in the oven at 400 F. for about 10 – 15 minutes. (You can also toss in SMALL cauliflower florets into the roast if you don’t have any leftover roasted cauliflower on hand.)
- While the veggies are cooking, put together the salad. Fill the plate(s) with greens, then sprinkle on cherry tomatoes, roasted cauliflower, onion, avocado, chive flowers and dill.
- And cook the eggs: Heat a nonstick or cast iron frying pan over medium heat. I like to coat the bottom with a bit of butter, then carefully crack my egg(s) into the pan. Sprinkle with seasonings as desired and cook to your liking.
- Sprinkle the roasted veggies over the salad, then slide the eggs on top. Sprinkle with additional chive flowers and dill for garnish. Serve with the dressing for drizzling as desired and enjoy! Save the extra dressing in a covered container in the fridge — it makes a great dip too.
Notes
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