Recipe: Spring asparagus salad, warm B.C. bacon vinaigrette with Quadra Island scallops

When buds are breaking, mother nature is slowly waking from her winter slumber and our farms are beginning to produce the first of the new year’s crops.

Not many ingredients are quite ready yet. Asparagus is usually one of the first. We have many different zones and regions in our province, and they come out of winter at different times. We have lots of delicious things available in our neighbourhood grocery stores and farmer’s markets that have been overwintered and are staples of our dinner plates.

In this recipe, scallops are the queen, bacon is the prince and asparagus is the king of spring.

This recipe is a simple preparation and can easily be served for lunch or brunch and as a tasty quick dinner for the entire family.

You could replace the scallops with some fried or poached B.C. eggs, or a beautiful filet of pan-seared Wild B.C. halibut and certainly substitute the bacon in the vinaigrette with some diced celery hearts for a slight crunch.

Asparagus:

The simplest way to prepare asparagus is to snap them on the stem and where they break, they are the most tender.

In a pot of simmering and salted water, dunk the asparagus in the boiling water for a brief 20 seconds, remove and serve immediately or chill in an ice water bath to shock the asparagus to serve later.

You could also lightly grill them on the barbecue or broil them in the oven for a quick minute to blister them and add a little flavour from the charred effect of the barbecue or the roasted effect from the broiler.

Before you broil or barbecue, make sure to toss on a touch of olive oil and a light seasoning of kosher salt.

Warm Bacon Vinaigrette:

– 1/4 cup finely sliced white onions (shallots or red onions also work)

– 1/3 cup small diced smoked and cured bacon (yellow, not green celery hearts are a good replacement if you want a vegetarian vinaigrette)

– 1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil

– 1/4 cup white wine vinegar

– 1 tsp cumin

– 1 tsp kosher salt

– 1 tsp cracked black pepper

– celery leaves for garnish

Method:

In a small pot over medium heat, sauté the white onions in the olive oil until tender.

– add the bacon and mix/cook for 30 seconds

– add the cumin, salt and pepper

– add the vinegar

Set aside and keep warm, the flavours and aromas will be ‘warm and delicious’

Scallops:

3-4 scallops per person.

Most scallops available will be frozen and are fantastic when thawed gently and patted dry to remove all the moisture, the scallops can be sourced at most high-quality fish mongers.

Method:

Season the scallops with a touch of kosher salt on both sides

In a frying pan over medium/high heat, add 1 tbsp of olive oil,

Lay the scallops in the pan and pan sear for 1 minute,

Flip the scallops over, add 1 tbsp of butter and a squeeze of fresh lemon

Do not overcook.

Remove and serve immediately on top of the asparagus with the warm bacon vinaigrette serve on top of the scallops and around the salad, be generous, these flavours are addictive.