Asparagus Salad: Spargelsalat

White asparagus is common in German cultural areas in Europe, but they do also use green asparagus, and "Asparagus Salad," known as "Spargelsalat" in German, is pretty common, but in various forms. Myself, I prefer green asparagus. Watercress was once pretty readily available in many parts of the U.S., but it is not always as easily found nowadays, depending upon your location. You can substitute arugula. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, I knew a couple of guys who LOVED watercress seasoned with a little salt. The one guy was a cousin of mine and the other was a neighbor, and he would sit on his front porch eating salted watercress from a bowl, drinking beer and often listening to a baseball game on radio.   

Ingredients (4 servings):

12 to 15 asparagus stalks, remove the tough bottom parts of the stalks
1/2 cup watercress or arugula
1 medium tomato, chopped
3 radishes, thinly sliced 
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil + 2 tablespoons
3 to 4 tablespoons honey, to desired sweetness
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt (divided use)
2 slices pumpernickel bread, cut into crouton size pieces

Rinse the asparagus well, cut off the tough bottom parts of the stalks, then cut the asparagus into about 1 to 1 1/2 inch pieces. Cook the asparagus in water seasoned with 1/2 teaspoon salt until the asparagus reaches the desired tenderness, which should be with a little crunch/crispness to it; you don't want it mushy. Drain the asparagus and let it cool, and in the meantime, in a skillet, saute the bread pieces in 2 tablespoons olive oil until a gets a little crispness. To a bowl, add the asparagus, chopped tomato, radish slices, and watercress/arugula. In a cup, mix together the balsamic vinegar, olive oil and honey. Pour the balsamic dressing over the salad mixture, tossing to coat the salad. Let the salad sit for a few minutes, then season with 1/2 teaspoon each of black pepper and salt. Add some of the pumpernickel croutons to the top of each serving.  

WORD HISTORY:
Cress-This word for various, but similar, plants of the mustard plant family, is distantly related to "gastro," a word derived from Greek, and to "gastric," a word borrowed from Latin, which had derived it from Greek. It goes back to Indo European "gras/gres," which meant, "to eat, to devour." This gave Old Germanic "krasjon," which seems to have meant, "edible (plant)." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "cærse" (the 'r' and the vowel sound were transposed, see some forms in other Germanic languages below), and then "cresse" (which took the word back to the 'r' plus vowel sound).^ As the pronunciation of the ending 'e' disappeared, the spelling became modern "cress." The development of the Indo European form into a meaning for a plant was something that purely happened in Germanic, although some Latin-based languages borrowed forms from Germanic; for example, French "cresson." Relatives in the Germanic languages: German has "Kresse," Low German Saxon "Kars," Dutch "kers," Danish and Norwegian "carse," Swedish "krasse," Icelandic "karsi." 

^ The ending 'e' was pronounced "eh/ah," making some spellings "cressa."