Raw Asparagus Salad/ Asparagus, Avocado and Goat Cheese Open-Faced Sandwich

Recipes for raw asparagus salad have been catching my eye lately….Raw Asparagus and Quinoa Salad on My Darling Lemon Thyme, Asparagus Mint Slaw on Saveur and sooooo many recipes for raw shaved asparagus with lemon and pecorino.  It turns out the raw asparagus is nutty and delicious, especially right now when you can get it all tender and fresh and local from the green market.

This salad makes a very good side dish for Salmon (or some other kind of fish).  It also makes a terrific packed lunch.   It is also very, very good on top of a slice of toasted bread that has been smeared with soft goat cheese and a slab of avocado.  I am have been on a big open faced sandwich kick since our trip to Estonia last year.  I recently found out that people call an open-faced sandwiches a tartine, which sounds beautiful because it is French.  This has made me wonder  if Nordic and Baltic countries also have a elegant one word names for an open-faced sandwich.  I think they should since open-faced sandwiches are pretty popular in that region.  Does anyone know how to say open-faced Sandwich in Estonian or Finnish or Swedish or Danish?  Since I can’t eat gluten, I make my open faced sandwiches on this this Estonian inspired dark gluten-free sourdough bread or this gluten-free sourdough boule.  However for these pictures I made  this AMAZING healthy bread which uses no yeast or sourdough.

RAW ASPARAGUS SALAD

• 1 bunch asparagus (about 10 oz)
• 1 medium carrot
• 2 or 3 radishes
• 2 or 3 fresh jalapeno peppers, minced (seed them if you don’t like too much heat)
• 1 Tablespoon minced fresh cilantro
• 1/4 cup minced fresh mint
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh chives
• 2 Tablespoons fresh lime juice (1 or 1/2 lime, depending on how juicy it is)
• 1 Tablespoon honey
• 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/3 cup sliced almonds, lightly toasted

1. Wash the asparagus, snap the tough ends off of the bottom of each stock, and slice them thinly on a diagonal.
2. Scrub the carrots and the radishes and slice them thinly on a diagonal.
3. Toss the sliced vegetables with the minced jalapeno peppers, cilantro, mint and chives.
4. Whisk the lime juice, honey and olive oil together and season it with salt and pepper.
5. Toss the salad with the dressing and the toasted almonds right before serving.

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