Baby Butter beans with artichokes and swirled spring sauce

Creator notes

I love this recipe because it’s flexible, highlights seasonal produce and ingredients you likely have on hand, and it’s really pretty! The star of this dish is the baby butter beans. These cute beans are not so big where they need to be the center of the plate, but are perfectly light and delicate to complete this dish.

– Danielle Schwab, Illuminate Food

Featured bean: Baby Butter

Other beans to try:

Take 'em from dried to cooked with our guide!

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Ingredients

• ½ lb Baby Butter beans
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 1 can artichoke hearts
• Plain yogurt

• Handful of any herbs (I used a mixture of parsley and cilantro)
• Handful of nuts (I used pistachios)
• ½ large lemon
• Olive oil (pour until you are ¼ way up the herbs)
• Splash of vinegar
• Drizzle of honey
• Splash of water to make it blendable
• ¼ jalapeño (optional)

Directions

Prepare the beans: Cook beans according to the Primary Beans cooking guide. (I used an Instant Pot. No need to soak as they are so fresh!). Once cooked, strain and gently toss with olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.

Cook the artichokes: Drain artichokes from the can. Lightly toss with salt and pepper. Fill a saute pan with an inch of neutral oil and place all your artichoke hearts in the pan and cook for 3 minutes, or until lightly charred, and then flip, cooking for another 3 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon onto paper towels.

Make the spring sauce: Add all spring sauce ingredients to a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Tweak it until you love it with salt, honey, etc.

Assemble and serve: Take a serving dish and cover the bottom with plain yogurt. Spoon on spring sauce and swirl it around. Arrange beans in a circle around the sauce. Place artichokes on top. Finish with more olive oil and salt and some additional herbs if you have any left.