After a number of days in a row of grabbing lunch and dinner on the go and being out of the house until 10 or 11 at night, I was ready for a simple, light, healthy, homemade meal yesterday afternoon–one that wouldn’t require too much time or effort, considering how frantically busy this time of the semester is for all of us. I had plenty of fresh produce in my fridge so I decided to put some of it to use in a hearty asparagus salad with a spicy dijon mustard and lemon dressing.

This is a unique dish for two reasons: There’s no need to cook the asparagus (i.e. you’ll be eating it raw), and you’ll be shaving the asparagus into long, thin slices for the salad.

When I first came across this [recipe](http://hungrycravings.blogspot.com/2009/04/asparagus-season.html), I was totally skeptical. In the past, I’ve tried asparagus just about every way *but* raw–broiled, blanched, grilled, stir-fried, roasted, steamed, etc. But never raw. And to be honest, raw asparagus just did not seem appealing to me. I’d always thought it had a slightly woody texture to it. I was genuinely surprised when this salad turned out well.

I was delighted with the end result–but don’t just take it from me. Go ahead and try it out for yourself. I think you’ll be pleased with the results.

This is a thrifty recipe–you don’t need all that many ingredients to put it together: one bunch **asparagus**, 1/4 cup **olive oil**, 1/2 teaspoon **minced garlic**, 2 chopped **green onions**, 1 heaping teaspoon **dijon mustard**, 1 tablespoon **lemon zest**, 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed **lemon juice**, and **sea salt** and **cracked black pepper** to your taste.

Shave your asparagus using either a cheese shaver (see above) or a potato peeler. Either will work just fine. Next, whisk together the olive oil, garlic, green onions, dijon mustard, lemon zest and lemon juice. Then all you have to do is drizzle the dressing over the salad, toss it a few times and dig in!

**Note:**It would be useful to let this salad marinate for about half an hour to an hour. It would help really bring the flavors through, and it would soften the asparagus a bit.