Cannellini Bean Salad With Shaved Spring Vegetables

From New York Times.



Time: 30 minutes

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
4 to 6 anchovy fillets, rinsed and chopped
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.
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.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings.






In Italy, where cooks have long known that beans are versatile as well as delicious, the bean repertory runs the gamut from glorious soups laden with garlicky greens to platters of steaming beans adorned with fat, juicy fennel sausages. But perhaps the real bean pinnacle is a plate of cool beans eaten with sweet onions, drizzled with fruity olive oil and sprinkled with salt. This is the simplest white bean salad — all you add is bread and wine.

To take the elemental white bean salad a bit further, you can customize it according to the season. Though spring seems to be rapidly becoming summer, we’re at the height of asparagus season now, and a few fat spears are all that’s needed for this dish. First, make thin ribbons of raw asparagus, fennel and radish. Then make a lemony, anchovy-inflected vinaigrette. Lightly dress the ribbons and pile them over the (also dressed) white beans. Add basil, parsley or dill. Serve this salad on its own or with the addition of grilled chicken or fish, or hard-cooked eggs. Over the course of the summer, you can reinvent the dish with other vegetables. Imagine the beans with shaved tender zucchini, chopped capers and good quality canned tuna, or with roasted peppers, sweet tomatoes and a splash of red wine vinegar.

However you dress them up, you’ll get best results if you buy your cannellini beans from an Italian grocer or another good purveyor who is likely to carry new-crop beans. Recently harvested beans cook more quickly and evenly, and hold their shape when cooked.

To cook them, rinse a pound of beans and put them in a pot. Cover with cold water and add a few aromatics — half an onion, a peeled carrot, a bay leaf, a clove, a few fennel seeds. Bring the pot to a boil, then reduce the heat to the barest simmer. Add a large spoonful of olive oil and a small spoonful of salt. Let the beans simmer, uncovered, for an hour or so, checking on them occasionally. Depending on their age and other variables, they may take up to 30 minutes more. When they are truly tender, turn off the heat and let them cool completely in their broth before refrigerating. A pound of beans will give you twice enough for the recipe below, so plan on a bean dish once more this week.