Keep It Cool - A Summer Recipe!

 

 It's a holiday weekend here in Canada, so... time to think about FOOD!! LOL.

 

Old-Fashioned Too-Many-Beans-To-Count Bean Salad

By: Victoria Hamilton

 When it’s too hot to cook, I usually pull out the oldest of vintage staples… the bean salad! It is pretty, and tasty (I now think, tho’ my seven year old self would not agree) and great to take to a pot luck. It stores well, and keeps for quite a while. It makes lots and is a great veg/carb side when potatoes, rice or pasta just won’t do the trick, and it is pretty much diet-friendly! I call that a super food. So, here is my Old Fashioned Bean Salad recipe! (I first shared this on Mystery Lovers Kitchen a couple of years ago!) 

Old Fashioned Bean Salad

Ingredients:

Cans of beans: Green, Wax (Yellow), (10 ounce cans) a Bean Mix and Chickpeas (Garbanzo Beans) as well as, if you like, Cannellini, or White Kidney Beans. Your choice, but limit it to four small/medium cans of beans total for the amount of dressing this makes. I happen to like Chickpeas, but if you don’t, just use another can of mixed beans.

 * Sweet Onion like a Vidalia, Spanish or Bermuda: half cup, chopped to your own taste… I like mine finely diced.

*Red (or orange, green, yellow) Pepper: half cup, chopped, again, to your taste. I like a fine dice, but you may prefer big happy chunks of pepper!

*½ cup Celery, chopped.

*Scant palm full of Parsley and Basil, chopped. Omit if you’re not fond of herbs.

*½ cup any clearish light-flavored oil; canola is my choice.

*½ cup white vinegar: plain, white wine, or apple cider; your taste, your choice. Use plain white vinegar if you’re not sure. I used a blend of white wine vinegar and plain white, because though I love the flavor of white wine vinegar, it has a very specific fruity flavor.

*½ to ¾ cup white sugar; I do something in between because ¾ cup is too much, to me, though most of the recipes I’ve seen call for it.

*½ tsp black pepper

*½ tsp celery salt or regular salt

Method:

1 - Combine the oil, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper and whisk until the sugar is completely dissolved. Set aside.

2 - Drain all the beans. I like to chop the green and yellow beans to smaller sizes consistent with the chickpeas, etc.

3 - Dice the onion, celery and peppers and mix completely in a large bowl with the beans.

4 - Cover with the dressing and mix well. Store it in the fridge in a large container. Let it marinate at least 24 hours before trying it. If you taste it too soon you will think it bland; it will be better than it tastes at first… TRUST me! If you think there is too little dressing, you can always make another batch and pour it over. If you don’t, and the dressing doesn’t cover the beans, mix the salad up every day so the beans soak in the flavor. 

Then… enjoy! A welcome addition to a barbecue, and you can make it ahead. In fact, it will stay good in your fridge for at least three weeks, a good and good-for-you accompaniment for cold summer meals.

Enjoy the May 24^th – Victoria Day Holiday, Canada!!