Hot Summer Vege and Bacon Salad

This time of year there is so much growing and coming ready for the table. It is a time of dining outdoors and throwing everything on the BBQ, it is also a really busy time on the farm so we are all about things that are healthy and yum but mainly that are fast to make!

Most of these ingredients can be grown yourself or picked up at a roadside stall at this time of year, eating seasonally is a healthy option but it is also easy on the pocket!

INGREDIENTS:

• Fresh Asparagus (a bunch is about 300gm)
• A handful of new peas or whole snowpeas- whichever you have
• 2 Kumara cubed
• 2 rashers bacon
• 1/2 red onion chopped
• 12 Cherry Tomatoes
• A sprig of rosemary
• Olive oil
• Cracked pepper and rocksalt to season

METHOD:

Wash your asparagus and snap the bottoms off the stalks and chop in half. Steam the asparagus for about 3 minutes and then plunge into cold water.
Take your cubed kumara and toss in a little olive oil and finely chop and add your rosemary. Roast on 180 degrees for approx. 20 minutes. About 5 minutes before the kumara is ready put the bacon, red onion and cherry tomatoes in the oven to roast also (I put them all in together on one dish).
In a pan on the stove heat a little olive oil (and/or butter if you choose). Add the asparagus and peas and toss to heat through and brown slightly. Remove your roasted veges and bacon form the oven. Take your bacon and roughly chop into pieces. Now combine everything together, season with salt and pepper and serve either as a main or as a side with something off the BBQ.

TIPS:

• Replace any of the ingredients with what you have in the garden- beans, baby beetroot and baby carrots roasted are all scrummy.
• If you have the BBQ on, you can cook all the veges on there- maybe just par-boil the root veges a little to get them cooked all the way through.
• I haven't used a dressing as I felt that there was enough olive oil in the process but if you love condiments then live little- throw them on there, an aioli would be pretty good i recon!

Enjoy xx
A