Some nights it’s good to be in the house alone. I’d been seeing talk of shaved asparagus on the interwebs for weeks and developed a hankering. Turns out, raw asparagus makes a tasty salad. A finicky, fussy, tasty salad.
This dish serves one, but can be easily scaled up to serve two. The salad could actually possibly serve two as it stands if you’re having something other than just steak and asparagus, but I happily ate it all in one go.
Steak with Shaved Asparagus Salad (paleo)
1 tsp. grainy mustard
1 tsp. wine vinegar
3 Tbsp. almond oil (or other neutral oil like grapeseed)
Big pinch citrus salt
12 oz. asparagus
Nice thick steak
1 tsp. coconut oil
Your favorite steak seasoning
Aged balsamic vinegar
First, prep your asparagus by snapping off the woody stems. Now shave. I’ve found the best way to do this with my particular vegetable peeler is to hold the tip and kind of balance the asparagus over something – like the jar of grainy mustard – and carefully go to town. I was left with a bunch of tips + some thicker pieces I couldn’t shave down enough and a few broken stalks from overzealous peeling. Save those rejects for a frittata. Add your asparagus curls to a medium bowl.
In a separate bowl, make the vinaigrette by whisking the mustard, wine vinegar and oil to form an emulsion. Hit with a big pinch of citrus salt and set aside.
On to the steak. Heat the coconut oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. While that is going, pat your steak dry and season with your favorite steak seasoning + salt if it doesn’t already incorporate it. Cook your steak until the desired doneness is reached. I had a 1/2 inch thick strip steak and like my steak rare, so I cooked 4 minutes on 1 side, flipped, and cooked an additional 3 minutes on the other. Remove the steak to rest 5 minutes and cut the heat. Chuck in your asparagus tips and let soften and cook using the residual heat in the pan.
To serve, give the vinaigrette another whisk and toss with the asparagus. Drizzle with some nice aged balsamic for a little extra kick.
Serves 1, with a large portion of the salad.
