Spring means gorgeous fresh asparagus is readily available. My mom brought home two pounds of the large, flavorful shoots. I’ve never seen asparagus so big. Most of them were bigger around than my thumb at their base. I wanted to do something with them I hadn’t tried before so I decided to shave them with my vegetable peeler. The long ribbons were reminiscent of pasta and quite fun to make and eat. I trimmed the tips off first (dicing them into my salad bowl), peeled the asparagus and then, laying the asparagus down flat against my cutting board and holding them tightly, I carefully ran the vegetable peeler down the length of the asparagus. I repeated it until the vegetable was too thin to peel. I diced up the unused segment and tossed them into my salad bowl as well but they can be reserved for another purpose. The only thing missing from the salad was the sharpness of shaved Parmesan cheese. Unfortunately I’m currently sensitive to dairy.

If you make enough salad to store in the fridge, I strongly recommend not adding the egg and nuts until right before serving. It’ll change the integrity of the ingredients.

1 lb asparagus spears, shaved
2 hard boiled eggs, diced
Juice of half a lemon (about 3 Tbs)
3 Tbs toasted almonds, rough chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Put shaved asparagus in a large bowl. Toss with lemon juice, salt and pepper to coat evenly. Add hard boiled eggs and toasted nuts. Serve immediately.