Warm Navy Bean Salad with Roasted Asparagus & Fennel
This dish takes 20 minutes to make, start to finish. It's so good that it's one of those recipes you would find in a fancy Italian restaurant. But you can make it at home (using canned beans)!
Wash the vegetables, leave the asparagus whole but thinly slice the fennel and the leek. (I have used the mandolin for the leek, but the knife for the fennel because I wanted it a little thicker).
Arrange the vegetables on a baking sheet and drizzle with some olive oil. Add salt and pepper, give it a mix, and bake at 400F for 10-15 minutes, perhaps mixing the vegetables in between, after 5 minutes.
While the veggies roast, rinse the canned beans (I would have used cannellini beans, but I was out of it). Use your favorite white bean.
When the vegetables are ready, chop the asparagus and, in a salad bowl, mix with the beans. Here you can add tarragon or dill; I was lazy and didn't.
Dress the salad with salt flakes, balsamic vinegar, extra-virgin olive oil, black pepper and some lemon zest to taste.