Edamame-Asparagus Salad with Herbed Greek Yogurt Dressing

I dearly love The New York Times for innumerable reasons, but I'll mention just a few. First, it gives me great delight to descend the stairs each morning and see sections of paper scattered across the kitchen table. They lie rumpled from an early-morning newsophile, and at the same time remain pristine enough to welcome the next set of eyes, which are a little blurry, but nonetheless eager to absorb its unflinching, insightful content. A second reason is their knack for suggesting excellent wines.

But we'll focus on a third reason for the time being: The NYT brought this recipe to my attention. It combined asparagus and chickpeas with fava beans and a yogurt dressing, offering a springtime dish I couldn't resist trying. I've never worked with favas before and haven't seen them at the local grocery, but they put me to mind of edamame, a relatively recent discovery for me. So I used soybeans instead, added more lemon then called for, and created a creamy, bright side dish.

I'm very fond of the chewy, meaty texture of edamame. What I am not fond of is shelling them. Once steamed, the beans pop from their pods only when prodded by fingers wincing from the still-hot shells. It is a laborious process, despite the tasty outcome. But that's enough about the beans. Let's turn our attention to the dressing. Greek yogurt, thinned with lemon and seasoned with a dosage of dried dill and basil bound beautifully to the beans and greens. It was luscious, yet light. A creamy coating to match the smooth asparagus. I generally find straight dill to be a little strong, so the addition of basil softened the herb's pervasiveness. Experiment with your preferred herbs, if you'd like.

Adapted from The New York Times' Fava Bean and Asparagus Salad

Edamame-Asparagus Salad with Herbed Greek Yogurt Dressing

Ingredients:

2 cups unshelled edamame

1 lb asparagus, ends cut off
1 15-oz can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

2 TBSP chopped, dried dill

2 TBSP chopped, dried basil 

zest from 1 lemon
juice from 1/2 medium lemon (approx. 2 TBSP)
2 TBSP white or red wine vinegar (I used red)
3 TBSP olive oil
2 TBSP greek or plain yogurt
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
--Fill a medium pot a third of the way up with water and set to boil. Once boiling, add asparagus to water (or place in a steamer on top of the pot). Cook until the asparagus can be pierced through with a fork. Use the same water for the edamame and boil the beans in their shells about 6 minutes. When cooled, remove beans from the pods and discard the pods. 
--Toss together edamame, asparagus, and chickpeas. In another bowl, mix together remaining ingredients. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour dressing over bean mixture and stir to combine. Serves 8 as a side dish.