Roasted Asparagus and Feta Salad

I’ve always thought of asparagus as a real luxury and as such, pricey – but right now they are in full season, plentiful and cheap! As a result we’ve been eating a whole lot of them, making hay while the sun shines.

My favourite way of eating asparagus is roasted – or cooked on the plancha which is much the same. This salad with crumbled feta takes roasted asparagus a step further in deliciousness. I was worried that the feta would overpower the flavour of the asparagus but it doesn’t at all. It’s perfect.

Roasted Asparagus and Feta Salad

Ingredients

Serves 4

• One bunch of medium thick asparagus (approximately 750 grams)
• Chunk of feta – about 2/3 of a cup
• Sweet ripe cherry tomatoes halved or any ripe tomato chopped – 200g approximately
• Olive oil
• Coarse salt
• Balsamic vinegar
• Black pepper

Method

Heat the oven to 400 degrees, or a *plancha till very hot. Take each each asparagus and find its breaking point and snap off the tough end. Lay the asparagus in a single layer on a baking sheet and drizzle over some olive oil and coarse salt. Roll them around so they all get oiled and salted. Then roast for approximately 15 mins till they are cooked. They should be slightly limp and very slightly charred.

Allow them to cool then chop them roughly and mix in a bowl with the tomatoes. Crumble in the feta, dress the salad with olive oil, vinegar, salt and freshly ground black pepper and serve.

*Note : if you are cooking the asparagus on the plancha, first heat olive oil with some coarse salt then spread the asparagus in a single layer and cook for about 5 minutes turning with tongs till cooked as above.