Asparagus and White Bean Salad @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: This salad is best with asparagus in season—luckily our garden has produced some, in spite of last year’s invasion of the Moles. It’s also delicious if you cook the beans from scratch (think Bean Club), though you can use canned beans if you’re in a hurry. I borrowed the basics of the vinaigrette from Jenny Rosenstrach’s Dinner, A Love Story, but made my usual tweaks.

Ingredients for the vinaigrette 

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard 

1/4 cup vinegar (red, white, white balsamic, sherry), 

 Juice from 1/2 lemon 

1/2 teaspoon sugar 

1/2 tsp salt, such as Diamond Crystal  

Freshly ground pepper, 

fresh chopped herbs (parsley, chives, tarragon, dill, basil) 

1/2 cup good olive oil 

To make: In a small jar or bowl, shake or whisk the ingredients up until olive oil. Add the oil and shake or whisk until emulsified.

Use one to 2 cups good white beans, either cooked from scratch or from a can but rinsed well. Add about half of the vinaigrette and stir gently.

Meanwhile, roast a pound of asparagus at 3:50 for 10 to 15 minutes until just tender. Set that aside to cool.

To compose the salad, cover the plate with arugula. Arrange the asparagus artistically across the arugula. Arrange the marinated beans across the asparagus. Drizzle more of the vinaigrette over the asparagus and on the beans. Snip chives over top.

This is a very flexible recipe. Next time I would fold some capers into the beans. You can also change up the herbs to your liking. Snipped basil would be delicious, or some dill or parsley.

I served this with a roast chicken and a platter of smashed potatoes. It was a big hit! Recipe for the potatoes to come!

Lucy Burdette writes the Key West food critic mystery series including USA Today bestselling A POISONOUS PALATE and A CLUE IN THE CRUMBS. 

Book 15 in the Key West series, THE MANGO MURDERS, will be in bookstores on August 12!

And the new trade paperback edition of A CLUE IN THE CRUMBS is out now!