Asparagus, Edamame and Snow Pea Salad

This will be our Christmas salad this year. I love that it is a vibrant green and is composed of just three vegetables: asparagus, snow peas and edamame beans.



It came about because we had good friends over to dinner and when I served them a medley of these three vegetables, warm and unadorned, the idea of adding a dressing came up.


Not really necessary I said but then I got thinking and created this simple dressing which I do think not only enhances the flavour but means the vegetables can also be served as a salad at room temperature.



To make it I boiled some  young asparagus spears very briefly until just tender and blanched some snow peas.
I brought some frozen edamame beans to the boil and simmered  them for about2 minutes. I could have drained and refreshed all the vegetables under cold water to retain their green colour better but I just drained them and they still retained their colour well.



The vegetables were combined and tossed with a dressing made by mixing equal quantities of ponzu lemon soy sauce and olive oil (I like to  dress lightly so used only one tablespoon of each)


This salad can be prepared well before dinner , Just before serving I poured over a little more ponzu lemon soy sauce and scattered the salad with freshly roasted sesame seeds.

It tasted light and mellow. I could have gingered it up with some grated ginger, spiced it with some a drop of hot chilli sauce or sharpened it with some rice vinegar, but we rather liked it like this.