Given last week's rain and chill, I was not thinking 80 and sunny and had planned to make a
Black Bean Chilaquile. But I didn't really want to crank up the oven, nor do I imagine others will wish to do so tomorrow. Temps seem to call more for a cold dish, like this
Black Bean Asparagus Salad. Naturally, I was short on some ingredients and wanted to use others originally slated for the Chilaquile. So, here you have a grand experiment and fixings for some quesadillas. Hopefully it will all work out.
Here goes:
1) BLACK BEAN & ASPARAGUS SALAD
Add chopped tomatoes and greens.
I thought I was buying a bag of fresh spinach at the farmer's market. It seems more like cabbage but tasty nonetheless and should be good in limited quantities.
Salad went something like this:
2+ pounds fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
3 cans (15 ounces each) black beans, rinsed and drained
3 ears corn
lots of little sweet red/yellow/orange peppers, chopped
1 bunch scallions chopped, salted and soaked in red wine vinegar
1 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley -- I didn't have nearly this much, but I think lots would be good
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup lime juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
dash each cumin and chipotle pepper
In a
Dutch oven, bring 1 in. of water to a boil. Add asparagus; cover and
boil for 3-4 minutes or until crisp-tender. Drain and immediately place
asparagus in ice water. Drain and pat dry.
In a large serving bowl, combine the asparagus,
beans, red pepper, onion and parsley. In a small bowl, whisk the oil,
lime juice, salt and pepper. Pour over vegetables and toss to coat.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.
2) QUESADILLAS
