You could cook the asparagus a day ahead, and make the salad hours before serving.
Cash in on local organic apples if you can. Check out what's in the market, and buy whichever kinds are new to you. Line a basket with colorful kitchen towels. If possible, label the different apples with a card slipped in next to them. Supply knives for slicing, or encourage everyone to just eat the apples out of hand.
Ingredients
My friend Lois claims having these tomatoes on hand is like having money in the bank. I use them when sundried tomatoes are called for but these are much juicier and luscious. Pieces of ripe summer tomato are slow roasted with olive oil until their edges have a lacy golden crust and the tomatoes taste like candy.
Copyright 1996 From "Savoring Spices and Herbs" By Julie Sahni, Published by William Morrow and Company, Inc., New York
Ingredients
Copyright 2007 Lynne Rossetto Kasper. All Rights Reserved.
This popular dish, called porpetton de faxolin in dialect, is irresistible. Polpettone in the rest of Italy means meat loaf, but in vegetable-crazy Liguria there is no meat in sight. This tart is wonderful as a snack, an antipasto, or a main course. For Ligurians it has the particular association of being the food that is packed to take along for hikes and country outings.
An intriguing mixture of flavors characterizes this complex salad, with sweet, sour, pungent, and fruity blending in a sauce that shows its Chinese origins with soy sauce, plum sauce, and sesame oil. It makes a light but satisfying summer meal or an exotic addition to the buffet table.