bean salad

This summer I've been eating a lot of variations on the classic three-bean salad. I make a one-bean (green beans), two-bean (green beans and cannellini beans), three-bean (green, cannellini, garbanzo), four bean (green, cannellini, garbanzo, and kidneys). Basically, a bean salad can have whatever bean you want in just about any variation you prefer.

I like to cook my own beans because it's cheaper and tastes better, but if you used canned beans, just rinse them of all the goopy stuff you find in a can. When I cook my own beans I soak them overnight, and then in the morning I cook them while I'm getting ready, and them let them soak in the cooking water until I get home that evening when I finish off the cooking.

To make a bean salad really tasty, you just need to add a few extras. Here are some suggestions-- you can add any variation of these ingredients:
chopped tomatoes
garlic
olives
red onion, finely chopped
shaved parmesan
chopped salami
sauteed fennel bulb

I like to have a slightly sweet dressing on my beans:
equal measure of olive oil and vinegar (rice or apple cider)
a dollop of dijon mustard
a measure of brown sugar or honey
salt
pepper

Let the beans marinate as long as possible before you eat, but if you can't wait to eat I don't blame you. If you want to pump up this salad even more, serve it on quinoa or israeli couscous.

farmer's market salad

This is an amazing salad, and it can be served as a main with a side of pasta or israeli couscous. Or, by itself. The first time I had this was at Rustic Canyon Restaurant in Santa Monica. My sister and I wrote down the ingredients in the restaurant and went to the Farmer's Market the next day and bought the ingredients. I call this salad Farmer's Market Salad because you can make this salad at any time of year, you just use seasonal vegetables.

I always start with a base of cauliflower, carrots, and fennel, three things that are almost always available. Then you add something green like asparagus, or green beans, or peas, or broccoli. It depends on the time of year. No asparagus in December!

Chop all of the vegetables into bite-sized pieces. I like to cut the carrots on a severe diagonal, nice and thin. The fennel you will saute in olive oil with garlic until it is soft. The rest you will par boil.

Start by getting a pot of water boiling. Have at the ready a bowl full of ice to stop the cooking when you pull the vegetables from the water. You want to vegetables to be tender, not soft, with just a bit of crispness. I like to boil everything separately to make sure nothing gets overcooked or undercooked (re-using the same water) but you can do it all at once, putting the heartier vegetables in first, following up with more delicate vegetables. You don't want to boil anything longer than 3 minutes. Pop them straight into the ice water.

Next, toss the vegetables and fennel together, along with a basic olive oil and vinegar dressing, or any salad dressing. Cheese is a great thing to add, like parmesan or feta. Chopped olives are also delicious, and so are toasted nuts, especially pine nuts.