another post already? are you ok?
We went to a bbq this weekend with lots of Sparks’ old (and my not so old) friends. We took a bean salad as a side dish – it got rave reviews from the darling Robin. This is just something I made up once upon a time and it’s always a work in progress or as Sparks calls it “a moving target” but I’ve got the basics down.
It all started because I needed a side dish for a Cinco de Mayo bbq. Plus I was looking for something with no mayo so it would be safe to sit outdoors all day if need be. I like pasta salads, but the pasta seems to get too mushy after sitting in the dressing for a while. I was all – “hey, I have these canned beans, wonder what I can do with them….”
I’m throwing this recipe together off the top of my head and all amounts are of course to be changed for number of people and your personal taste. This recipe makes a good sized bowl, enough for a group. Or change up the kinds of beans to fit your tastes. Someone said that garbonzo beans have a weird texture – leave them out if you don’t like them, or add more if you love them. I like the contrast of texture
3 cans of black beans, rinsed
1 can garbonzo beans, rinsed
2 large jalapenos, minced
1 small red onion, minced
1 bunch cilantro, leaves chopped
That’s it for the salad. Then you dress it. Sometimes I just throw on some lime juice and salt. This last time I made a honey lime vinagrette to try to counter some of the heat since the jalapenos were setting my lips on fire.
2 tbls honey
juice of 2 limes
olive oil (I dunno, enough. I put enough in to just about double the volume in the jar I was using to mix in)
salt, a couple of healthy pinches – you rinsed all the salt off the beans
shake to combine and pour some over the salad. Stir and taste, keep adding the dressing until it’s enough. I used almost all of it.
A big plus to this – other than the olive oil you really don’t have any fat. Or not much, there’s not much in canned beans. And olive oil is supposed to be a healthy fat. So yay! It’s got to be a healthy alternative to the sugar/bacon laden baked beans of my youth. (I’m not knocking those, I like those too, I just like these better.)