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….â€
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.)