I wish I could adequately describe this shrimp and asparagus dish. White beans, good. Asparagus, love it. Shrimp, yes. Garlic? Lemon? Yes, yes.
But I had no idea how good it would be. No idea. And then something that tastes this good also looks this good- what? It looks like something that you’d get at a fancy restaurant. The type where I would probably see the waiter bring this and I’d roll my eyes a bit, thinking it’s one of those restaurants (you know, the kind that are more into presentation…).
But I would have no idea until the first bite. And you are going to want many bites of this. I promise.
As if flavor and presentation weren’t enough, how about simple and easy with pure ingredients? Oh, stop- it’s too much.
This recipe consists of three very quick steps. The first is briefly cooking the beans with garlic, lemon juice and water (I use the precooked beans I keep in the freezer, but canned would work, too). Then pureeing them in the pan with an immersion blender (you’ve gotten yours, right?), or a regular blender.
The second step is to make the light dressing with more wonderful lemon and garlic.
The last step is quickly cooking onions and then asparagus until just crisp-tender before adding the shrimp (or scallops). Since each step is quick, it all comes together in about 30 minutes.
To serve, place about 1/2 cup of the pureed beans on a plate, add some of the shrimp-asparagus mixture, and pour part of the dressing over the top.
And prepare to be amazed. Really, truly, honestly.
You will want to serve this with a good bread (artisan is of course my fav) to soak up all the beany-dressing goodness. Again, trust me on this, it’s either bread or licking the plate, so make it easy on your family and guests.
I’m going to be making this a lot. When asparagus isn’t in season any more I’m going to move on to green beans. Then I might try broccoli, or cauliflower. And scallops. Snow peas, anyone? Oh yeah.
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Shrimp (or Scallops) & Asparagus on White Bean Puree
- 3-4 cups cooked white beans (or about 2 cans)
- 4 Tb. lemon juice, divided
- 2 cloves garlic, minced and divided
- 1 tsp. kosher salt, divided
- 1/2 c. water
- 4 Tb. extra virgin olive oil, divided
- 2 Tb. chopped fresh parsley
- 1 Tb. butter
- 1 onion, cut in half then sliced thinly
- 1 lb. asparagus, trimmed and cut in 3 to 4 inch pieces
- 1 lb. shrimp or sea scallops
- Beans: Place the beans, 1 Tb. lemon juice, 1/2 tsp. each salt and pepper, and 1 clove of the minced garlic in a medium saucepan. Add 1/2 cup water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and puree with a handheld immersion blender (if using a regular blender or food processor, return beans to pan after pureeing). Keep warm over lowest heat.
- Dressing: Combine the remaining minced garlic clove and 3 Tb. lemon juice along with 1/2 tsp. salt, parsley, and 3 Tb. olive oil in a small glass measuring cup, whisking to emulsify. Set aside.
- Asparagus, etc.: Saute onions in 1 Tb. butter and 1 Tb. olive oil for 3-5 minutes. Add asparagus, stir, cover and cook for about 3 minutes or until just crisp-tender over medium heat. Add shrimp and cook until done (pre-cooked just needs to be heated through).
- To serve: Place about 1/2 cup of beans on each of four serving plates and divide the asparagus-shrimp mixture evenly. Then pour the dressing over the top of each and serve immediately.
Makes four servings
-Jami
This is linked to:
Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
Tasty Tuesday
Real Food Wednesday
Recipe Swap @ Grocery Cart Challenge
This looks and sounds delicious! We get navy beans from our farmer’s market and I wasn’t sure if they were the same as the beans you are using.
While trying to figure it out, I found this page comparing different white beans.
It looks like you are using great northern beans, right?
Wow!!! That looks so good! Now if I could just get the hubs to eat shrimp like that!
Oh my goodness, Jami – I’m so thrilled that you posted this – it looks lucious and I can’t wait to try it. Thanks!
Sarah- Yes, those were great northern. I did look at the page, and it’s good to know the differences, though, I too like them, use all the white beans interchangeably. The great northern’s are usually the cheapest white bean in the bulk bins, which is why I buy them.
Candi- Try this with scallops, or even go out on a limb and try it with chicken pieces. I still think it would be a great flavor!
This looks super delicious! I love asparagus.
This looks amazing! I can’t wait to tyr it!
Jenelle
Love this recipe! Found this link from Kayln’s Kitchen. My husband and I ate it up! My 2 year old ate some too.
We used cannellini beans and we were out of parsley so we used fresh dill instead. Wonderful!
Absolutely amazing! My husband and kids raved about it. David slipped and called it “dessert.” So nice when I can make them all that happy!
Renee: Yeah! Though I don’t think anyone in my family would mistakenly call it dessert.
So good! I added a handful of flat leaf parsley (since I used white asparagus) and mushrooms then topped with gorganzola!
Your additions sound lovely, Jill – thanks for sharing!