Recipe #23: Cannellini Bean Salad With Shaved Spring Vegetables

To be completely honest, I was very skeptical when Matt emailed me this recipe and suggested we have it for dinner one night. The name of the recipe alone gave me some negative feelings, as its only been recently that I’ve started eating beans, and reading further through the ingredients didn’t start to reassure me much, either.  Asparagus? Fennel? Radishes? Beans? There were a lot of vegetables on this list that I haven't eaten, but, then again, we have been saying lately that we need to start eating more adventurous.

We are also trying to eat less meat during the week, and saving the beef, pork and the chicken for when/if we eat out on the weekends. So that means finding a variety of new recipes to incorporate vegetables, and not just salads. It’s been a bit of a food adventure, and so far, we’ve really been enjoying it. And this recipe was a good start. Plus, shaving all the vegetables let me pull out my handy mandolin, which I do so love to use!

My thoughts on the dish? As I prepared it, I took a piece of each of the vegetables to judge them on their individual flavor. The radishes had a mild and peppery flavour that I found I didn’t mind. I’ve eaten asparagus before, but normally cooked and slathered with butter, garlic, and lemon juice, but when shaved raw, it had a nice taste to it. The fennel, my friends, was a different story. The one place my husband and I differ on snack foods is black licorice. He loves it; I cannot stand it! The smell alone is enough for me to send him into another room (all in good fun, of course; he knows my distaste for the stuff and will often make sure to breath on me after having eaten it). I’ve heard that fennel smells/taste similar to licorice, and while slicing, we instantly became enemies. But I braved it and took a small bite. The hint of licorice was definitely there, and while I don’t think I could eat a salad made only of that, I was willing to give it a go with the mixture of the other vegetables (that’s why I leave the recipe making to the pros!).  Cooking the fennel also gives it a more mild taste, but this salad called for it raw.

And then there were the beans, canned white bean to be exact. I’m slowly coming around to beans in all their forms, but most have been hidden in chiles and soups, not the main attraction. But I figured mixing them together with the other ingredients would help mask them a bit. But I was really very surprised at just how much I enjoyed this salad! I might even consider myself a bean fan now (wait until I share my Black Bean Brownies with you)!

The moral of the story? Even if something looks scary, give it a try… that’s a lesson I’ve learned a lot these past few weeks.

FOR THE VINAIGRETTE:

3 tablespoons lemon juice, or as needed
Finely grated zest of half a lemon
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon ground fennel seed
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

FOR THE SALAD: 

2 cups cooked cannellini beans, drained
Salt and pepper
Pinch red pepper flakes
6 to 8 large, fat asparagus spears, snapped and peeled
6 radishes
1 small fennel bulb, trimmed
1 small sweet spring onion, or a few scallions, finely chopped
Chopped parsley, basil or dill, for garnish.

DIRECTIONS:

1. To make the vinaigrette, whisk together the vinaigrette ingredients. Adjust lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste.

2. To assemble the salad, place the beans in a large bowl. Pour half the vinaigrette over the beans and toss lightly. Season with salt, pepper and

red pepper flakes.

3. Using a sharp mandolin — and a hand guard — carefully slice the asparagus spears lengthwise to about the thickness of a penny. Slice the radishes and fennel to the same thickness. Lay the shaved vegetables and chopped onion or scallions in a shallow bowl. Season with salt and pepper, and dress them very lightly with a few spoonfuls of vinaigrette, turning gently to coat.

4. Spoon the beans onto a serving platter or individual plates, then cover the beans with the shaved vegetables. Add a little more vinaigrette over the top. Sprinkle with chopped parsley, basil or dill.