Sunday Salads: Shaved Asparagus and White Bean Salad

Today felt like the perfect summer day. I slept in and snuggled with Chet all morning. Christian spent the afternoon kayak fishing. I ran this evening. We ran out of hours in our day and ended up eating dinner after 9pm. There is nothing better than living on a summer time clock.

Tonight’s salad was original published in Clean Eating Magazine

Shaved Asparagus and White Bean Salad

INGREDIENTS:

2 bunches fresh asparagus (about 1 lb each)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
3 1/2 cups cooked cannellini beans or 2 15-oz BPA-free cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed well
2 tbsp fresh orange juice
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp champagne vinegar
1/2 cup chopped unsalted walnuts (2 oz), lightly toasted
1/2 cup shaved Pecorino Romano or Parmesan cheese (2 oz)
1/4 cup slivered basil
Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

Hold each spear of asparagus by its thick stem and lay it down on a cutting board. Using a vegetable peeler, shave asparagus into long ribbons. Place ribbons in a large bowl and discard remaining stems. (NOTE: You should be left with about 1 lb shaved asparagus.) Drizzle oil over asparagus and toss to coat.

Add onion, beans, orange and lemon juices, and vinegar. Toss to combine.
Fold in walnuts, cheese and basil. Season with salt and pepper. This salad can be served immediately or prepared in advance; chill, covered, for 4 to 6 hours in refrigerator.

Cooking Notes:

Shaving asparagus is time consuming. I had hoped our local store would have thicker asparagus but it didn’t. I also used coconut oil instead of olive oil.

It was the perfect light dinner salad. I will admit, I’m a carb girl. We paired this salad with grilled blackened tuna. It was perfect, but my carb addiction left me craving corn bread or sweet potato fries.

I’ll definitely make this salad again, but I’ll make another side to go with it.

Since I had some room left in my stomach after dinner, I decided it was the perfect reason to indulge in dessert! Ben and Jerry’s Phish Food is my favorite!