Smoked trout & asparagus salad with buttermilk dressing

This generous, bright salad is light and indulgent at the same time, in all the right ways. Using locally farmed cold-smoked trout, crunchy young asparagus, tender baby potatoes, crispy salad leaves and a zippy, creamy green goddess dressing made with buttermilk and various fresh herbs, you can serve this as an elegant light lunch or festive starter.

Note: This recipe uses raw, thin, young asparagus - sweet and crunchy. If you are using larger asaparus, give it a quick blanche or pan-fry to make it slightly more tender if you prefer.

For the dressing:

½ cup mayonnaise

½ cup buttermilk

¼ cup fresh chives, roughly chopped

¼ cup parsley, roughly chopped

¼ cup dill, roughly chopped

15 ml (1 tablespoon) fresh lemon juice

2 anchovy fillets in oil (drained)

a pinch of salt

For the salad:

a bunch crisp salad leaves

a small bunch wild rocket leaves

500 g baby potatoes, boiled until just tender

15-20 ml extra virgin olive oil

about 300 g thin fresh asparagus

200 g cold smoked trout ribbons/slices

salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Method:

To a blender, add all the ingredients for the dressing and blend to a smooth light green sauce. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

To assemble, arrange the salad leaves on an extra large platter (or 6 individual plates). Halve the potatoes and place in a small bowl, then drizzle with olive oil, season with salt & pepper and toss to coat. Top the salad leaves with the potato halves, then top with the fresh asparagus and trout. Season with more black pepper, the drizzle all over with the goddess dressing. Serve at once, with more dressing on the side.