Three Bean Salad Recipe
This salad recipe doesn't call for any vinegar or lemon juice in the dressing. The natural acidity of the nectarines is all you'll need. As an added bonus, the nectarines lend an added freshness to the dish. Three beans are used in the salad: black eyed peas, kidney beans and black beans. Crumbled feta cheese, jicama, Romaine lettuce, baby spinach leaves and a few other ingredients complete the dish.
The salad is not only tasty but filling, due to the starchy nature of the legumes. Especially with vegetarians in my house, I find that a bean salad is a simple, nutritious and tasty option for lunch when I just don't feel like cooking.
Ingredients
Yields: 12 servings
1 (15-ounce) can black eyed peas, rinsed and drained1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (8.5-ounce) can sweet corn, drained
¼ jicama
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 Persian cucumbers, trimmed and diced
1 carrot, peeled, boiled for 5 minutes and diced
¼ red onion, sliced
¼ cup dried cherries
2 nectarines (still hard)
2 ripe grape tomatoes, coarsely chopped
⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 sprig oregano
2 tablespoons basil leaves
½ teaspoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1 clove garlic
¼ teaspoon red chili flakes (optional)
1 (6-ounce) package baby spinach leaves
⅓ cup feta cheese, crumbled
2 heads baby Romaine lettuce, shredded
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper, freshly cracked
Directions
Prepping the jicama: Peel and slice the jicama into ½-inch thick pieces. In a non-stick pan, add oil and fry the jicama slices until golden brown. Once they are cool enough to handle, cut the pieces into ½-inch cubes. Let cool to room temperature.
Prepping the nectarines: Cut the nectarines in small wedges and finally remove the stones. Dice them.
For the dressing: In a mortar and pestle, combine the basil, garlic, oregano, rosemary, red chili flakes (if used) and salt. Grind into a thick paste. Add olive oil and black pepper.
Assembly time:
Place the 3 beans, corn, jicama, cucumbers, red onions, dried cherries, tomatoes, nectarines, carrots and feta cheese in a large serving bowl. Mix well. Drizzle with the dressing. Add the Romaine lettuce and spinach. Lightly toss without crushing the spinach leaves too much.
Serve at room temperature.
Bon appétit!
Tips
It's important to add salt to the oil and not sprinkled over the lettuce for proper seasoning.
Dried cherries add a tart flavor to the salad. You could replace them with dried cranberries, dried blueberries or sweeter ingredients such as dried apricots, dried mangoes or dried papaya or pineapple.
You could replace the nectarines with any stone fruit such as peaches or apricots.
You could replace the beans with garbanzo beans or the lentils of your choice.
Published By: on May 29, 2012.
