Three Bean Salad

Stephen_Leak

Yes. I usually try my recipes and, if necessary, amend them before posting them. If I do post one without trying it myself first, I will always say so.

HariboJunkie

Stephen_Leak wrote: »

Yes. I usually try my recipes and, if necessary, amend them before posting them. If I do post one without trying it myself first, I will always say so.

I'm a bit lost. Do you make up recipes according to what you think might work but don't always try them before writing them down/posting them? I think I'd try before I post. :DEspecially when using cold baked beans as a main ingredient.

whatatwit

I would be tempted to wash the baked beans, or at least let them drain over a bowl for a couple of hours before using.
I'm sure the baked bean juice could be used in something else :think:

We always used to have cold baked beans when we were having a salad tea.

Stephen_Leak

HariboJunkie wrote: »

I'm a bit lost. Do you make up recipes according to what you think might work but don't always try them before writing them down/posting them? I think I'd try before I post. :DEspecially when using cold baked beans as a main ingredient.

This one came from my "culinary library", ie. my collection of cook books.

This one came straight from one source, so I presume it to be as safe as anything containing that amount of beans can be. It does also have parsley, which is supposed to counteract any possible "side effects"!

What I will now do is have a look at as many other recipes as I can find, and see what ingredients (ie. types of bean) are common to the majority of them, which ones appear in some of them and which ones only appear in one or two. Then I can "merge"" them all together, into the - hopefully - definitive recipe.

These I always like to test, before inflicting them on an unsuspecting world.

When checking other published recipes, I regularly see ones where it obvious that the author hasn't checked what they've written, leave alone actually done it and noted each step. Remember Anthony Worral-Thompson accidentally "using" some poisonous plant recently?

HariboJunkie

Stephen_Leak wrote: »

This one came from my "culinary library", ie. my collection of cook books.

This one came straight from one source,

Sorry.... I thought it was one you had made up. I think for reasons of copyright you're supposed to quote the source though or link directly to it.

Stephen_Leak

OK, I've refined the mix of beans a bit and divided everything by two, but the simple olive oil plus lemon juice dressing remains the same.

THREE BEAN SALAD

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

200g (½ of a 400g tin) of borlotti/rose coco beans
200g (½ of a 400g tin) of cannellini/white kidney beans
200g (½ of a 400g tin) of red kidney beans
1 tablespoon of olive oil
½ a tablespoon of lemon juice
1 teaspoon of dried parsley

METHOD

Open the tins. Put the beans into a sieve or colander and rinse them thoroughly under running cold water.

Put the beans into a bowl. Add the olive oil, lemon juice and parsley. Mix thoroughly.
Cover and put in the fridge for at least half an hour.

ADDITIONS & ALTERNATIVES

Use other beans, like black-eyed beans, butter beans, flageolet beans or haricot beans. If you can find them, use pinto beans, which are the authentic "cowboy" bean. You can even use baked beans, but wash the tomato sauce off first. Use sliced green beans, or broad beans.

You can use chick peas, even though they aren’t beans.

You can, of course, use dried beans. However, they have to be soaked in advance.

Use extra virgin olive oil for preference, but normal olive oil will do. Use the juice of ½ a lemon instead of bottled juice. Use chopped fresh parsley instead of the dried parsley.

Add a clove of garlic. Peel the garlic and chop it into tiny pieces.

Add 2 spring onions. Wash the spring onions, cut off the root ends and leaves, peel off and discard any dried up or slimy outer leaves, then chop them into thin rings.

TIPS

Don’t use similar coloured beans together, like butter beans and cannellini/white kidney beans.

PS. I've also just tried this with pinto beans, haricot beans and black-eyed beans. It was OK, but a bit "chewy", as they don't seem to soak up the dressing.

MindaJ

I make a bean salad using red kidney beans, lima beans, chick peas and butter beans, mixed with corn kernels, red onion and peppers. I often eat it as is, but sometimes I put it on lettuce. Once I added marinated fetta and sundried tomatoes (just to be fancy) and it was excellent. I never add a dressing; I find it doesn't really need it. It's a good crunchy salad.

I should add, I use a tin of mixed beans when I make this. The ones I've listed are from the ingredients of a tin I have in the pantry, but I've used different brands that have different combinations. I don't notice a difference between the beans, but I like the flavour the chick peas give the salad.

powershopper

I always make 3/4/5 bean salad with at least one of the beans a fresh one. At this time of year there are a few to choose from, broad,kidney and best of all french beans. Cook as normal, refresh in cold water and chop into bite size chunks!:T