Butter Bean Recipes, Hearty Salads, Vegetarian -
Spring Green, Butter Bean + Ricotta Salad
Spring Green, Butter Bean + Ricotta Salad
Rated 5.0 stars by 2 users
Servings
3-4 as a side, 2-3 as a main
Cook Time
20 minutes
Author:
Bold Bean Co
We LOVE a hearty salad. And it doesn't get much "springier" than this one! A few spoonfuls of our Queen Butter Beans are blitzed into the minted pea puree for added creaminess, the rest create the base of the salad so that they're big, juicy flavour can be appreciated in their full glory. Definitely don't skimp on the lemon!
We love to serve this as a centre piece to a Spring dinner party (+ definitely recommend some focaccia bread to mop up the goods!)
Ingredients
300g asparagus, ends trimmed
1 tbsp olive oil
200g frozen peas, defrosted
100g spinach, wilted
1 small garlic clove, grated
A bunch of mint (roughly 15g), roughly chopped
A smash bunch of basil (roughly 10g), roughly chopped
The zest of 1 lemon
2 tbsp of Bold Bean Co Queen Butter Beans with their bean stock (the rest of the 700g jar drained and reserved for later)
1 tbsp olive oil
250g ricotta
25g hazelnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
Fresh mint and basil leaves, to garnish
1 lemon, a grating of the zest to garnish and lemon wedges to serve
Warm focaccia or sourdough
For the pea puree
To finish
Serving Suggestions
Directions
Char the asparagus in a griddle pan over a medium heat with a splash of olive oil and a good pinch of flaky sea salt until tender and griddle marks show, roughly 6 minutes.
Reserve 3 tablespoons of the peas and put the remaining in a blender or food processor with the wilted spinach, grated garlic, mint, basil, lemon zest and a good pinch of salt and blitz into a smooth puree (add a splash of water to loosen, if necessary, but you don’t want it too runny). Add 3 tablespoons of the beans and their bean stock and the olive oil and pulse to reach a creamier consistency. Check for seasoning.
Drain the remaining beans and add them to a large mixing bowl. Add the pea puree, the reserved peas and the juice of half a lemon and mix well to combine. Season well with cracked black pepper.
Spoon the beans onto a large serving platter. Dot over the ricotta, scatter over the asparagus, toasted hazelnuts and fresh herbs. Finish with some lemon zest and a drizzle of olive oil.
Serve as a hearty salad or mop up with some crusty bread, plus an extra squeeze of lemon for added freshness.
