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Roasted Asparagus topped with Fresh Pea Chevre Pesto and Mandarin Sea Salt - CaliZona

2 - 4 servings

Ingredients

Fresh Pea Pesto – 1 1/2 Cups (you can halve this recipe or spread the extra on some French bread and serve alongside the asparagus)

  • 1 1/2 Pounds Fresh Pea Pods 1 cup
  • 1/2 Cup Raw Walnuts
  • 3/4 Cup Chevre Cheese
  • 1/4 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 1 Tablespoon Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice
  • 1 Clove Garlic
  • 1/2 Teaspoon Sea Salt

Mandarin Salt

Whole batch

  • 1 Box Maldon Salt - 1 1/4 Cup
  • Zest of 4 – 8 Mandarin Oranges – depends on how much citrus you want I used 5, which is mild

Small batch

  • 1/4 Cup Maldon Salt
  • Zest of 1 – 2 Mandarin Orange

Asparagus

  • 1 Bunch Asparagus
  • 2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • Sliced Almonds – to taste

Instructions

Pesto

  1. Remove peas from their pods, measure and put into a small pot of filtered water.

  2. Bring to a boil, then turn off the heat and leave in the water for 1 minute. (use a timer) Drain in a colander and rinse with cold filtered water. Let cool.
  3. When peas are cool, put them along with all the pesto ingredients into a food processor or blender. Puree.

Mandarin Salt

  1. Pre-heat oven to 225 degrees.
  2. I included a whole recipe for the salt to use on other dishes or you can make the small batch for this recipe only.
  3. Zest the mandarins with a micro planer, spread the zest out on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.
  4. Take out and separate any clumps with your fingers and put back in for 5 additional minutes and then repeat separation of any remaining clumps and put back in for the final 2 minutes.
  5. Put the salt into food processor and pulse about 5 times to break it down just a bit. Optional.
  6. Mix the zest with the salt.

Asparagus

  1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
  2. Wash the asparagus and completely dry.
  3. Snap off the tough ends and discard. (If they are thick, peel the outside. Mine were thin so I didn’t peel them.)
  4. Place them on a baking sheet, drizzle olive oil over the asparagus.
  5. With your hands, gently coat the asparagus evenly and spread out to a single layer. Place on the top rack of your oven and bake for 5 – 8 minutes, depending on how thick they are.

Assemble

  1. You can serve it like I have in my photos or put the pesto and mandarin salt into bowls and let your guest add their desired amount.