Light, easy, vegan, seasonal, and all the good stuff: asparagus and cannelini bean salad.

Annalena has repeated this so often you all must be tired of hearing it:  she looks for recipes and inspiration wherever she can find it.  Also, she has said this so often that you must be tired of it, but it's important: If  you see a recipe you like, but think you can make a change, know when you CAN make one, and when  you can't, and try it, if you can.

For the first of these points, Annalena is an avid reader of Wednesday newspapers, because for reasons that probably no one can figure out, Wednesday is recipe and food day in just about every newspaper in the immediate world.  Sometimes, she finds a good one, sometimes, she finds none.  This week, she found three!  And this is one of them,  which also plays into where you CAN make a change (which Annalena did).    Another one, which will follow, is one where you CAN'T make changes.   The second one is a cake recipe, and changing that one will lead to disaster.  Annalena guarantees that.

So, this recipe is something that is called a "salad," but is really better called a light, satisfying meal.  The Guyman and Annalena ate it for their Sunday lunch, in advance of what will probably be a heavy dinner.  It was surprisingly satisfying.  And also, ridiculously easy.  The way Annalena makes it, she assumes that you have been good children, and have cooked dry beans, and frozen quantities of them.  If you haven't, even though the recipe says you can use canned beans, Annalena refuses to do so.  Asparagus have such a light, pleasant taste, they deserve the freshness that comes from fresh cooked dried beans (indeed , if you are using a high quality product - Annalena uses Rancho Gordo), the beans will taste very fresh.    And if you need a "refresher" in cooking dried beans, get in touch with Annalena. Send an email, give a return address, and she will explain.

Ok, on the assumption that you have them, you will need 2-3 cups of cooked cannelini, or other white beans.  You can use whatever you have handy, but the colors here are such that the white ones really look beautiful.  Put them aside, while you assemble the other ingredients.

You will need a pound of fresh asparagus.  Cut the tough part off at the bottom (you will wind up with somewhere between 9 and 12 ounces of usable vegetable).  Get a pot of salted water to the boil, and drop in the asparagus.  Let them cook for - Annalena is not kidding here - 90 seconds.  Pull em out, and let them drain and cool, while you make the dressing.

And here is where you can play, ragazzi.  The original recipe called  for half a cup of fresh tarragon.  Annalena likes tarragon, to a degree.  Indeed, she has made her peace with it. Half a cup?  With asparagus? Didn't seem right.  So Annalena switched out dill and upped the herbs: 3/4 cup of dill, and 3/4 cup of fresh parsley - the Italian varieity.    This is a place where you can switch things around.  To Annalena, the taste of dill, and the parsley, was such that they seemed to scream SPRING,  so that's what she used.

Put them in a food processor, with the juice of a lemon (you could use a lime if you like, or some vinegar), and a bit of the lemon peel.  Maybe 2-3 big strips.  Also add either 2 cloves of dried garlic bulb, or half a bulb of a green garlic bulb, peeled (which is what Annalena did).  Add a good pinch of salt , and note that you'll probably be adding more.  Finally, have half a cup of your best quality olive oil handy. Again, you may very well shift here.  Walnut oil works with asparagus, so does avocado oil, and if you are leery of your olive oil, you could do this with vegetable oil as well, given how many flavor elements you have.    As the processor does its dirty work, start pouring in the oil.  You'll get a thick, green colored emulsion.  Taste it, and correct the salt if you need to (which you probably will.  ). Pour all that dressing into a bowl, and add your white beans.

Get your asparagus out, and cut them , preferably on the diagonal, into half inch pieces.  Toss those in too, and toss the whole thing around.

Trust Annalena on this:  this "salad" is much more satisfying than you may think. But if you have your doubts, feel free to add some cooked baby potatoes, or some sharp cheese, or even shrimp/crab/scallops.  For the scallops,  you may want to experiment with ceviche.

Now, if you have your beans cooked, you can put this together in 20 minutes, and it's a worthy lunch.  Go for it ragazzi.  Asparagus are still here, but it's June, and they won't be for long.  Enjoy em while you can.

And next time around:  if it's spring, can strawberry shortcake be far behind?  Well, yes, because we'll be making strawberry SPONGE cake.

Alla prossima