Cooking for Pleasure: Quick and easy bean salad

Bean salad ready to serve. (Photo by Patty Schied)

By Patty Schied

With this lovely weather we've been having, this recipe is great for impromptu picnics. No cooking is required and ingredients are available in most kitchens. It only takes minutes to prepare.

Although this recipe uses canned white beans, go ahead and use whatever canned beans you have in your cupboard. What makes it tasty is the garlicky lemon dressing and herbs. It can be made minutes before your outing or the night before. Any leftovers are great for lunch the next day.

Ingredients:

2 cans of white cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

1 bunch of green onions, very finely sliced

1 red, green or orange bell pepper, cut into very thin one-inch slivers

Dressing:

2 cloves of garlic, grated or pressed

1/4 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice

1/2 cup of your best extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

2 to three tablespoons of very finely minced herbs such as parsley, oregano, chives, and/or chervil

Directions:

Mix first three ingredients in large bowl.  Mix dressing and taste.  If too tart, add a little more olive oil and then pour into bean mixture.  Add finely minced herbs and taste for seasoning.

Variations:

Make the salad as colorful as you like. Use black beans or chickpeas. Add several different colors of peppers or substitute minced red onion for the scallions.

• Patty Schied is a longtime Juneau resident who studied at the Cordon Bleu in London and has written a cookbook. Cooking For Pleasure appears every other week in the Juneau Independent's features. She welcomes questions about her column at patschied@yahoo.com.