Heirloom Bean Salad

Busy week! Thank goodness for dishes that keep me happy and interested for multiple meals.

I've been living off this bean salad for several days. I finally finished it today, and it never got boring. You can eat it as is, or do what I do and add it to some spinach and romaine with cucumber and more tomatoes. Some scallions would have been nice here but I didn't have any. I improvised by carmelizing an onion while the beans cooked- a brilliant accident! Don't you love it when the substitute is just as good or better?

I found these scarlet runner beans at Whole Foods; I was looking for cranberry (also known as borlotti) beans which are a particular favorite and this was the closest I could find visually. There are lots of interesting heirloom beans out there so you could substitute practically any I imagine, as long as they are large and meaty. I don't think canned beans really work here- they tend to be smaller and softer.

Heirloom Bean Salad

1 cup scarlet runner beans or other large heirloom variety
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 cup broccoli-carrot slaw, steamed and chopped coarsely
drizzle basil oil
1 tsp dijon mustard
salt to taste

1 yellow onion, chopped and carmelized in a pan over low heat for 50 minutes with some salt and pinch of sugar

Put the beans in a small pot, cover with water and allow to soak overnight. In the morning, pour out and recover the beans with fresh water. Sprinkle some salt in the water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and summer for about 45 minutes, stirring and checking occasionally to see how they are doing. The cooking time will vary by the type of bean you use. Mine took about 45 minutes. Drain the beans and place in a bowl. Add the cherry tomatoes, steamed slaw, drizzle basil oil, and dijon mustard. Add the carmelized onion (or chopped scallions if you want to substitute the original for the substitute :-) and toss together. Add salt to taste if it's needed. Serve the bean salad on its own or as a component in a larger leafy salad.


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