Shameless Bean Salad

Prepare dried beans following the instructions on our Cooking Beans page so that the salad will be easily digestible (and therefore, shameless!). Feta cheese will help to give you a complete protein in combination with the legumes. If you prefer, you can replace the zucchini with cucumber. This Bean Salad is a handy item to have in the fridge on hot days and keeps well. Fresh salad items can be added before serving—it’s a very flexible recipe.

2 cups red kidney beans

2 cups navy beans

1 cup black beans

1 zucchini, thinly julienned

½ medium red onion, finely sliced

1 large clove garlic, minced

¼ cup olive oil

½ green pepper, diced

1 fresh tomato, diced

½ cup pickling vinegar

1 tbls balsamic vinegar

½ cup water

¼ cup sugar

1 tsp ground mustard

½ tsp salt

1 tsp fennel seed

½ tsp peppercorns

½ cup feta cheese, coarsely crumbled

Cook the beans with savory, bay leaf, and a small amount of salt, changing the water 1-3 times during the cooking process, depending on the size of the bean.

In a small saucepan, heat the vinegars, water, sugar, mustard, and salt to the boiling point, then simmer for a few minutes.

Julienne the zucchini into thin strips, mince the garlic, and slice the onion finely. Place these items, along with the fennel seed and peppercorns, in a heat-proof bowl or measuring cup and pour the hot vinegar mixture over; allow to cool slowly. Dice the green pepper and tomato, removing seeds. Crumble the feta cheese into chunks.

Place the cooked beans into a lidded bowl and toss with the vinegar-veggie mixture. For best results, this mixture can be refrigerated over night and the last three ingredients plus olive oil tossed in just before serving.

Otherwise, the tomato, pepper, feta, and olive oil can be added last and chilled with any left-over salad.

Other ingredients that may be added include cucumber, green beans, buckwheat berries, parsley flakes, minced chili peppers, and black olives.