Recipe with no name

Lately, I have been seeing more and more restaurants serving asparagus incorporated into dishes, where it's sliced into itty bitty pieces. So naturally I have been trying to replicate that in my own kitchen.  This week (Monday in fact) I had a hankering for hearts of palm and tangy lemon and before I knew it, a new "recipe" was in the works. The only problem is that I haven't figured out what to call it yet. So...I'll get back to you on that. In the meantime, check it out:

INGREDIENTS
Asparagus - 1 bunch
Hearts of Palm - 1 can
Chick Peas - 1 can
Cucumber - 1 medium sized, english-style
Red Onion -  1 small, diced as small as you can get it
Grape or Cherry Tomatoes - 1 cup or so, quartered and seeded
Capers - about 2 tablespoons, minced
Olives - about 2 tablespoons of either kalamata or green spanish, minced
Basil, Parsley or Mint - 2 tablespoon, minced (choose whichever one you like best)
Lemon - 1 large
Vinegar - just to coat, either champane, white wine, rice or white balsamic would be best
Salt & Pepper

INSTRUCTIONS
Bring a pot of salted water to boil (4 cups or so).

Prepare an "ice bath" (put a few cups of water in a boil and fill with ice).

Break the tough ends off of asparagus (the woody white colored ends. If you bend it like a pencil, it will natrually pop and break where it needs to). Toss into the boiling water and boil for only 1 quick minute. Remove immediately and place into ice bath to chill completely.

Drain and rinse the chick peas (always always always drain and rinse canned beans to cut the sodium content down). Put the beans into a large bowl, prefereably with a lid (I used the same bowl I stored it in).

Chop all the veggies to the sizes specified and add to the bowl with the beans:
- Asparagus - about 1/8 to 1/4''
- Hearts of Palm - slice in half lengthwise, half again lengthwise, then dice into pieces about 1/4 inch thick
- Cucumber - slice off the two ends and stand it up on the cutting board. Make two lenghtwise slices, which will leave you with 3 long stripes. Next, take each of the 3 stripes and slice each one to make 4 more strips each. Now dice all to 1/4''
- All others (capers, olives, herb) as listed above in ingredients list

Toss in the lemon juice, vinegar and salt and pepper. Taste as you go, keeping the golden rule in mind "you can always add but you can't take away!"  Remember the taste will be different at this stage than it will a few hours, or days later. So, season sparingly, then check it again after a few hours.

Let sit in the fridge for at least an hour, but the next day it will be at it's best and only gets better as the days go by. Every time you open the fridge for sometime, just give the bowl a little shimmy shake.  It will last for about 4-5 days.

How to serve it?  Plain just like it is as an appetizer (I always keep mixtures like this handy for the time gap of getting home before I eat dinner), a mid-afternoon snack at the office, a side dish (would pair great with any meat, and especially fish prepared with lemon), in a pita as a veggie sandwich, on top of greens for a great salad..... 

VARIATIONS
- Are endless. Use your imagination.  Off the top of my head I think raw bell peppers and/or celery would go great.