Asparagus Salad

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
We always celebrate this day with as many green foods as possible. Last year we made the best Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream ever, these Mint Chocolate Cupcakes are always popular, and every year that I can remember we have had some form of green eggs and ham (last year it was a biscuit sandwich).

This year I am trying to stay away from the green food coloring as much as I can, (although I will use it to make our eggs green this morning), and we are going to enjoy green foods that are really green because they grow that way.

This is the perfect one to start off the green food celebration. This is a simple way to serve asparagus. It is briefly cooked, along with broccolini, for about 2-3 minutes, so it is crisp tender.
Then it is tossed with a lemon juice-olive oil-shallot dressing, and topped with pepitas, thinly sliced radishes and lemon zest. If you can think of anything more delicious or perfect, please feel free to suggest it, because this was pretty amazing. It's interesting how something so quick and easy can truly be so flavorful and delightful to eat.

Here is the recipe for Asparagus Salad from 101 Cookbooks
* I omitted the parmesan cheese
* I used pepitas instead of pine nuts
* I went ahead and cooked the broccolini stems