White Bean and Potato Cakes with Asparagus

So yesterday I finished my dissertation (!), wandered out of my writing cave, squinted at the sun, and headed for the grocery store. Things have been a little rough meal-wise this last week. Like, canned-lentil-soup-for-dinner rough (I know). In fairness, it was Wolfgang Puck Organic Lentil Soup, but still. At any rate, I arrived at Wegmans and discovered that the produce department was itself looking a little rough. It was very odd.  I did find a beautiful bunch of organic asparagus though, and, remembering with fondness my German spargel explorations, picked up some butter potatoes to go with it. I knew I needed some protein as well, so I also grabbed a can of cannellini beans with no clear plan in mind.    

Once I got home, it took my poor post-dissertation brain a while to figure out what to do with these ingredients. I even started cooking without a clear plan in mind, which I can't really recommend as a good strategy. I eventually decided to make cakes out of the beans and potatoes and serve the asparagus over them with some melted butter. Very tasty, though not without some technical difficulties. Before I get to that though . . .

Can we talk about asparagus urine? Or, as I like to call it, spargelpee™. I learned today that only 22% of people can smell a foul odor in their urine after consuming asparagus (everyone's smells bad, but not everyone can smell it). I am not one of those lucky 78% who are apparently blissfully unaware that smelly pee is a byproduct of the ingestion of delicious asparagus. The real problem, however, is that I forget this fact. Every time. Not every time I eat asparagus, but every. single. time. I use the bathroom afterward. So I'll come out of the bathroom the first time and be all "OMG, SOMETHING IS SERIOUSLY WRONG WITH ME!!!" Then after a minute I'll remember--oh, yeah, spargelpee. Then, like an hour later, I'll go into the bathroom and once again be like "MY KIDNEYS ARE FAILING!!!" LCBF thinks this is hilarious. So if you're still in the mood for asparagus after that bit of TMI, I recommend drinking a lot of water with it.

Recipe after the jump:

White Bean and Potato Cakes with Asparagus

1 bunch organic asparagus (use 1/2 bunch if cooking for one)
1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
3 med. butter potatoes
juice of 1/2 lemon + extra for serving if desired
~2 tbl butter (omit to vegan-ize)
~2 tbl olive oil + a few tbl for frying
salt & pepper
~1/4 c. soy milk

Cook potatoes until tender. No need to peel first. I boiled mine whole (about 20 min), but you could microwave them. Once potatoes are cooked, mash with about 1 tbl of butter, salt, and pepper, slowing adding soy milk until they're smooth, but not runny (1/4 c.  measurement is an estimate).

Prepare asparagus by rinsing and snapping the woody ends off (hold the asparagus spear with two hands--one at the tip and one at the bottom of the stem--and gently bend the spear until it snaps. It will naturally break just above the tough woody part of the stem that you don't want to eat). I really enjoy snapping the stems, so I do all of them by hand. LCBF claims that you should just snap one and then use it as a guide to cut off the others in one swift slice. I suppose it all depends on how much you enjoy playing with your vegetables.

In a food processor, combine the can of drained, rinsed beans, 1 tbl olive oil, juice from 1/2 a lemon, and a little salt & pepper.  Pulse until you have a hummus-like paste, adding more olive oil as needed. Add the mashed potatoes and pulse until combined. The mixture should be thick. Let sit until cool enough to handle, then shape into patties with hands.

Heat a couple tbl of olive oil in a large frying pan over med. heat and add cakes, frying 4-5 min. on each side. These did not hang together as well as I had hoped and I'm not entirely sure why. Maybe too much moisture from the potatoes? Maybe they needed another binder, like an egg? Or some fridge time before cooking? It's hard to say, but I had some real problems keeping them from falling apart during flipping and plating.

You can cook the asparagus while frying the cakes, but you'll want to keep an eye on it. I cooked mine in a skillet with about a tbl of olive oil, but overdid it a little, as you can see in the pictures. Eh, it happens.

Serve the asparagus over the cakes and either top with butter (or lemon butter) or serve it on the side. Serve with lemon only for a vegan dish.

The flavors here were simple, but very good. The lemon mixed with the beans was excellent and nicely complemented the asparagus. I'd like to try this one again when my head is more in the kitchen.