Adapted from the brilliant Veganomicon, this green dip is delicious spread on crackers but be warned - it's very moreish!
Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves of garlic (optional), peeled and chopped
500g of asparagus, rough ends removed.
500g of spinach, washed well
200g raw cashews
2-3 tbsps capers
Freshly ground black pepper
salt to taste
juice of ½ a lemon
Instructions
Cut the asparagus* stems in half. Heat the olive oil in a pan and saute the garlic for about one minute on a medium heat, taking care to stir it to keep it from burning. Add the asparagus and a little water (about a third of a cup), cover, and bring to the boil; cook for about 5 minutes (until the asparagus is bright green and tender - test it with the tip of a knife).
Lower the heat and add a couple of handfuls of spinach. Once the leaves have wilted to make room for more, add the rest of the spinach in batches: covering the pan in between each addition will speed up the process. Once all the spinach has been added, cook uncovered for about 5 minutes.
While the greens are cooking, put the cashews, capers, salt and pepper in a food processor or blender and blend until the cashews are small, coarse crumbs, scraping down the sides to make sure you get everything. When the spinach is cooked, add the contents of the pan to the food processor and puree until relatively smooth. Add the lemon juice, adjust the seasoning if necessary and transfer to a container. Cover and chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
Notes
Since the asparagus in this recipe is going to end up whizzed into a pulp anyway, I've taken to cutting off the asparagus tips a few inches down from the top and saving these for use in a stir-fry or salad, so I just use asparagus stems here (rough ends removed).
This will keep perfectly well in the refrigerator for a few days if you can resist that long!
Recipe by Entering Vegan Territory at http://enteringveganterritory.co.uk/how-to-eat-vegan/dips-spreads/spinach-asparagus-cashew-dip/