Tuna and White Bean Salad

Sometimes I feel like Sunday calls for a light dinner to detox from the weekend and all of its snacking and wine drinking. This last Sunday I made this Tuna and White Bean Salad from the April 2011 issue of "Cooking Light" magazine. http://www.cookinglight.com/
Its a really flavorful and visually pleasing salad which features one of my most favorite spring vegetables, ASPARAGUS! It also falls under the "budget" and "convenience cooking" section of the magazine.


Here is what you'll need:
(serves 4 small salads or 2 dinner size salads)
-20 asparagus spears
-1 tablespoon capers,drained
-1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
-2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
-2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
-2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
-1 tablespoon butter, melted
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-1/4 teaspoon black pepper
-1 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered
-1 (15 ounce) can white beans, rinsed and drained
-4 cups torn butter lettuce (about 1 head)
-2 (5 ounce) cans solid white tuna packed in olive oil, drained and broken into chunks **I used tuna packed in water**
-**I added 1 clove fresh minced garlic**


Snap off tough ends of asparagus spears. Rinse, pat dry and snap into medium size pieces like this

Recipe calls to steam asparagus, covered, for 3 minutes. But I boiled it in salted water for about 2 minutes. You can do it either way.

Drain and rinse with cold water. Drain and set aside.

Combine below ingredients in a small bowl, stirring well with a whisk.
-capers
-parsley
-white wine vinegar
-lemon juice
-extra-virgin olive oil
-melted butter
-salt
-pepper
-garlic

In a medium size bowl combine above mixture, white beans and cherry tomatoes. Toss Gently.

Divide lettuce evenly on plates, top with tuna, spoon on white bean mixture and finish with asparagus spears.

Enjoy!